Communication Power Paperback – 5 Sep 2011

Review

Castells has done it again, a masterpiece of global perspective and enviable erudition. Moving beyond his trilogy on the information age, Castells focuses on how cultural, economic and particularly political power relationships are constituted and sustained through systematic communication flows. A new line of analysis draws on neuroscience and cognitive psychology to track the role of emotion in political communication. Case studies include global media deregulation, the politics of scandal, framing the war in Iraq, ecological social movements, the Obama presidential candidacy and a fascinating comparison of media control dynamics in Russia and China. (Advance praise from W. Russell Neuman, Evans Professor of Media Technology, University of Michigan)

How could Manuel Castells have predicted that now is the time of the perfect storm? I do not know. But I do know that his new book coincides with the largest downturn in global economies since the 1930s, with the most important American election since the 1960s, with a most radical transformation of world politics in many generations, and with the most profound reevaluation of the lives of modern citizens, from what they value to how they communicate. We have become used to Castells' careful scholarship and penetrating analyses but in this new book he cuts deeper into the heart of the matter. Sometimes he provides illuminating answers and where he cannot, he frames the questions that must be answered. This is a powerful and much needed book for a world in crisis. (Advance praise from Antonio Damasio, David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Director, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California)

Manuel Castells unites the mind of a social scientist with the soul of an artist. His trilogy took us to the edge of the millennium. This book takes us beyond to the critical crossroads of the 21st century, where technology, communication, and power converge. (Advance praise from Rosalind Williams, Dibner Professor and Director, Program on Science, Technology and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

In this timely book, Professor Castells turns his attention from the impact of the internet on the economy to its impact on communications and politics. I can warmly recommend it to all communications practitioners. But his clear analysis and vivid case studies make this book of interest to anyone who wants to understand the nature of power in today's democracy and the meaning of the campaign that swept Barack Obama into the White House. (Advance praise from Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Communication Policy)

About the Author

Manuel Castells is Wallis Annenberg Professor of Communication Technology and Society at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Research Professor of Information Society at the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Internet Studies at the University of Oxford. He is the author of twenty-two books, including the three-volume The Information Age.