Networks of Outrage and Hope ─ Social Movements in the Internet Age

This book is an exploration of the new forms of social movements and protests that are erupting in the world today, from the Arab uprisings to the indignadas movement in Spain, and the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US. While these and similar social movements differ in many important ways, there is one thing they share in common: they are all interwoven inextricably with the creation of autonomous communication networks supported by the Internet and wireless communication.

In this timely and important book, Manuel Castells – the leading scholar of our contemporary networked society – examines the social, cultural and political roots of these new social movements, studies their innovative forms of self-organization, assesses the precise role of technology in the dynamics of the movements, suggests the reasons for the support they have found in large segments of society, and probes their capacity to induce political change by influencing people’s minds.

Based on original fieldwork by the author and his collaborators as well as secondary sources, this book provides a path-breaking analysis of the new forms of social movements, and offers an analytical template for advancing the debates triggered by them concerning the new forms of social change and political democracy in the global network society.

Manuel Castells is University Professor and Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communication Technology and Society at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, as well as Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Planning, University of California, Berkeley. He has published 26 books including the trilogy "The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture", translated in 22 languages, and "Communication Power". He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the British Academy, the Academia Europaea, and the Spanish Royal Academy of Economics. He was a founding board member of the European Research Council. He was awarded the 2012 Holberg Prize from the Parliament of Norway.