The Cultural Imaginary of the Internet: Virtual Utopias and Dystopias (Palgrave Pivot)

Contemporary culture offer contradictory views of the internet and new media technologies, painting them in extremes of optimistic enthusiasm and pessimistic concern. This book explores such representations, uncovering the roots of our cultural responses to the internet, centred upon a profoundly ambivalent reaction to technological modernity. Contemporary culture offer contradictory views of the internet and new media technologies, painting them in extremes of optimistic enthusiasm and pessimistic foreboding. While some view them as a repository of hopes for democracy, freedom and self-realisation, others consider these developments as sources of alienation, dehumanisation and danger. This book explores such representations, and situates them within the traditions of utopian and dystopian thought that have shaped the Western cultural imaginary. Ranging from ancient poetry to post-humanism, and classical sociology to science fiction, it uncovers the roots of our cultural responses to the internet, which are centred upon a profoundly ambivalent reaction to technological modernity. Majid Yar argues that it is only by better understanding our society's reactions to technological innovation that we can develop a balanced and considered response to the changes and challenges that the internet brings in its wake Front Matter....Pages i-viii Unravelling Utopias and Dystopias....Pages 1-11 The Techno-Scientific Utopias of Modernity: From Real to Virtual....Pages 12-26 Virtual Utopias and the Imaginary of the Internet....Pages 27-46 The Dystopian Worlds of Techno-Science....Pages 47-57 Virtual Dystopias and the Imaginary of the Internet....Pages 58-71 Beyond Virtual Utopias and Dystopias?....Pages 72-79 Back Matter....Pages 80-106 Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.