The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler

It’s good stuff, but I miss the grand historical perspective. The theme is that new information technologies are reshaping opportunities for cooperation in cultural production and other forms of social action, but face obstacles in achieving them. Second, “James Wimberly”: at _The Reality-Based Community_ on the history of cooperative production.īq. This all leads us to the question, what’s so new about these new networks of social production? … The open source movement perhaps hasn’t flattened hierarchies as much as we’d like to think rather, it’s just created new outlets for their expression. … As Eszter notes, the networks of the web overlap with existing social structures, like class hierarchies. … My irritation, if I have one, is that both Powell and the new Internet network folks seem obsessed about the technology without really theorizing the form of social action. In fact, Quiggin’s comment summarizes much of what Woody Powell argues in his 1990 article “Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization.” In that article Powell enthusiastically portrays another new form of economic production, which he also sees as distinct from the market-hierarchy dichotomy. All of this talk about the new forms of social production is very reminiscent of the excited discussion about “network forms of organization” that have been going on in org. As I come across interesting posts on other blogs contributing to the discussion of Benkler’s book, I’ll add links and potted summaries to this post.įirst, “Brayden King”: at _Organizational Theory_ about the blinders that network theorists wear:īq.

The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler