Article Review "Social Structure"- Van Dijk

Social Structure by Jan van Dijk, is an article written about how communication networks and information technology affect the social society today. Van Dijk is a professor of sociology and communication science at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. He has written three books( The Network Society, The Deepining Divide, and Digital Democracy) that are all related to the Network Society and the affects it has on social structures. This article is a chapter from Van Dijks book “The Network Society.” This book receives solid reviews online (about 3.5/5 stars), most reviewers claim it is a very educational reading that offers the reader an understanding of one of the most significant communication transformations in history. However, the negative reviewers generally think Jan Van Dijk is verysharp and narrow-minded at times The article discusses many depths, divides and access restraints to technology that affect our social standing. I believe his thesis for this chapter is that not only does infrastructure change because of network societies, but network societies are also changing based on social structures Van Dijk made many comments on how “space and time” are becoming more important in the network society. For a portion of the article, Van Dijk makes a claim that time and space barriers have been broken as a result of communication technologies. Based on prior knowledge and some statements later in this piece, I am not fully convinced on this point. Moreover, the stress on speed and time in regards to new communication technologies also rejects this claim by Van Dijk. Consumers want their information as fast as possible so the aspect of time is still one of the most important in communication networks. For space, I don’t believe space barriers have been broken because people want to have information from all over the world, and with the newest improvements in communication technologies this has been made possible. Later in the chapter, Van Dijk discusses the expansions in telecommunications and how it has affected our social society. He claimed that the expansions have caused for a lack of individuality. I don’t believe this is entirely true for a couple reasons. Although recent advancements in communication technologies make our society more intertwined in one big space, there is still capacity to allow users to do what they want in their own space. As telecommunications are growing on a daily basis, this opens up many doors for personalization of ones network experience. Van Dijk said that trying to do all information communication in one space creates a single set of wants and desires for users. However, I disagree because people all have much different desires and uses for the space. Although we are all using the same space, the different ways we use the space to complete our tasks makes it an individual experience.