6. Post-industrial society theory as information society

Perhaps the most famous and popular sociological modern concept is the concept of "information society". It is believed that the term "information society” was firstly used by Japanese sociologist Umesao Tadao in 1963 (Tadao, U., Asahi, H. 1963; p. 156). According to Voronina (1995), the concept of "information society" has become the second stage in the development of the theory of "post-industrial society that emerged in the 60's and 70's. The second phase is associated with the concepts in which the post-industrial society is considered as an information society. These concepts emerged in the 80’s.

It seems that the term "post-industrial society" has more broad sociological character. In this study, preference is given to the term "information society", as the basis of this theory is information as a key concept of political communication. It is believed that post-industrial approach emphasis the economic and social aspects of the new society, but the information - for the most part - is the communication aspects. Nevertheless it is obvious that it is the failure to study the works in which preference is given to the terms ("post-industrial society" or "information society") would have looked completely ridiculous because of the fact that the same authors freely operate with the first and the second definitions (Barber, 1998).

D. Bell (1973), a recognized founder of the concept of postindustrial society, makes focus to the socio-economic aspects in modern society transformation. According to his observations, reinforced by extensive statistical data, by the end of the 60’s years of the twentieth century the foundation of a new technological civilization appeared. If in an industrial society labor and capital were central variables, the post-industrial society, "information and knowledge are crucial variables" (Bell, 1973; p. 8).

Bell said about the formation of new elite of knowledgeable people, who "has the power within the institutions of intellectual activity - research organizations, universities, etc." (Bell, 1973; p. 8). According to Bell, the political influence of these people will only increase. But he was strongly opposed against the transfer of power in her hands: "As far as political issues are closely connected with the technical problems (in a broad range - from military technology to economic policy)," knowledge elite "may pose problems, generate new questions and offer technical solutions for possible answers, but it has no power to say "yes" or "no" (Bell, 1986; p. 332). The latter is the prerogative of the politicians, not scientists or economists. In this regard, it is an exaggerated idea of what "knowledge elite" can become the new elite of power (Bell, 1986; p. 341).

In the work of Daniel Bell we can find a lot of valuable observations on the communicational channels and their influence on political processes. For example, he was one of the first who mentioned the prospects for the use of computers and computer networks as a channel of communication. He writes about this: "As computers are increasingly being used in communication networks as commuting systems, and electronic tools of communication are essential elements in a computer data processing, the difference between information processing and communication disappear" (Bell, 1986; p. 335).

The main political risk in the development of information technology, according to Bell, is that the political elite can hide important information from citizens, or in the illegal disclosure of information relevant to the scope of private life. In any case the effect is achieved by manipulating of public opinion. Thus Bell estimates rather negatively than positively the prospects of new information technologies in the political process. In his view, "technology does not cause social changes, it is only its instrument" (Bell, 1973; p. 109). Thus, the negative trends related to the new information technologies may be offset by a competent public policies aimed to achieve equal access of its citizens to political information and the protection of personal information.

Perhaps one of the most well-known authors, who played a significant role not only in developing the concept of information society, but also promote it to the masses is Alvin Toffler (1980).

Toffler develops the idea that contemporary society is undergoing a change in the value of different resources of power (Toffler, 1990). If in the pre-industrial era the main resource of power was violence, in industrial - wealth, in the post-industrial society knowledge is coming to the first place. Welfare of the nation today are less and less dependent on military power and wealth, and more - on the development of science, art, culture, moral values, information and education Hence the new system of government is appeared, marked with the transition from work of the muscles to the work of mind. Power today - it's not a question of quantity (money, power), but of a quality. Even the military’s speak of "clever weapons" and " high precision missiles" (Toffler, 1990). In this case, according to A. Toffler, "knowledge as a source of "high quality” power is becoming more influential with each passing nanosecond" (Toffler, 1990; p. 470).

Various aspects of the impact of new information technologies on social and economic aspects are reflected in his book "Third Wave" (Toffler, 1980). Despite the fact that Toffler nowhere in his book written in 1980 use the term "Internet", however there are a lot of stories where he describes the technology which has now been successfully implemented within the infrastructure and services of the Internet.

While giving the general characteristics of various communication networks, Toffler advocated the introduction of decentralized computer networks, as the control of the government will be strongly hampered (Toffler, 1980; p. 287). On the other hand, while observing the processes of new technologies, Toffler concluded, that the mentality of people often does not withstand the speed of innovation (Toffler, 1980; p. 289). He even invented a new term - "futuroshok," which means "the stress and disruption that occur in people exposed to too much change in too short time" (Toffler, 1970; p. 5) In order to avoid a mass manifestation of “futuroshok”, Toffler spoke for selective introduction of new information technologies. According to Toffler, very soon there will be "fundamental differences between societies that are appropriate to the selective technological development and those who cling to the first available opportunity" (Toffler, 1970; p. 356). Hence any society just need political institutions that can monitor the technical progress and to ensure sustainable development.

The great interest in terms of the impact of new information technologies on politics is the concept of “technotronic” era by Zbigniew Brzezinski (1970). According to Brzezinski, modern society is "culturally, psychologically, socially and economically influenced by technology and electronics, particularly advanced in the field of computers and communication" (Brzezinski, 1970; p.9)

The influence of computers and communications is manifested in the strange paradox: on the one hand - the collapse of traditional relationships, where the life of individuals is fragmented, on the other hand – formation of a global, holistic worldview. According to Brzezinski, the main reason for this paradox is the development of modern electronic communications (Brzezinski, 1970).

Estimating the position of the United States in the international arena in the new environment Brzezinski indicates that the unfolding “technotronic” revolution is global and popular culture transmitted by tools of electronic communications becomes important key factor in foreign policy influence. Natural consequence of the expansion of mass culture with new tools of communication is creating of a new world view, based on simplified and accessible to the mass images. Instead of complex ideological doctrines the people are offered “nonideological” lifestyle that includes the elements of different cultures (Brzezinski, 1970; p. 18). According to Brzezinski, the United States should remain a leadership in the development of new media and in the production of samples of popular culture.

Brzezinski 's views are similar in many ways to the approach of another theorist of the information society Marshall McLuhan, a representative of Toronto school of communication, who has published numerous papers on various aspects of the process of communication in modern society. The concept of McLuhan's still one of the most influential and cause a variety of interpretations in the scientific community even nowadays

McLuhan argued that the tools of communication, as technological transfer of information, bring a message of changing "scale, speed or shape, which is introduced to them in human affairs" (McLuhan, Fiore, 1967; p. 17). Thus, the means of communication have a huge impact on the behavior of both private individuals as well and social groups. Moreover, the tools of communication influence the development of human civilization in general. This was written by the founder of "media theory" Harold Adams Innis, who firstly proposed to carry out a periodization of human history according to the fundamental communication inventions: "We can clearly divide the history of the West in the writing and printing periods" (Innis, 1950; p. 7). McLuhan, developing the idea of his teacher, has identified three stages in the development of civilization:

1. Primitive preliterate culture with oral forms of communication and information transfer;

2. Write - printing culture (the Gutenberg Galaxy), replacing the naturalism and collectivism by individualism;

3. Modern stage ("global village"), a natural regenerating of multidimensional view of the world and collectivism, but on a new electronic basis through the substitution of writing and printed language by radio, TV and network media communications (McLuhan, 1962).