From the utopia of the network society to the reality of risk society

Abstract

This article begins with a review of the emergence of network society, with its roots in the Internet, the invention of the World Wide Web, and the digital revolution. The ethos of “Internet culture” and its projection in the network society is also revisited. Then comes a macro view of the “Internet Galaxy”, an unequal and rapidly expanding phenomenon. Finally, it analyses some trends that suggest the growing transformation of the network society in a society of risk. In between the loss of the neutrality of the Web and the risk of cyber warfare, there is a growing replacement of the idealism of the pioneers by economic and security concerns.