The loss of information and communication control: notes about a Manuel Castells´ thesis

Abstract

Since 1983 Manuel Castells frequently holds that information and communication control was and is the foundation or the source of power, and particularly state power. In this article we refer to that formula in general terms, and then we focus on a central thesis the spanish sociologist proposes since 1997, which indicates that in the current situation there is an irrepressible tendency towards the loss of information and communication control. The principle of the end of the mentioned control is for our author most probably the main support of his thesis about the definitive decline of nation states power. Among other aspects, the research allows us to discover some features of the anti-state view Castells displays in his social theory. This product is inscribed on the research about the development of Manuel Castells’ concept of power during the period 1967-2009, and in more general terms in current efforts to revalue modern social theory and to recover the question of power as a general interpretation key.