The Internet and the new economy

• Author: Marek Sokolowski
• Pages: 655-662

655

MAREK SOKOŁOWSKI*

THE INTERNET AND THE NEW ECONOMY

1.Introduction. Searching for a method to describe the Internet

The phenomenon of the Internet is explored by specialists of various

areas and science branches. Linguists observe the changes the language of the

Internet undergoes and which is connected with writing online diaries (blogs), as

well as participating in online discussions carried out on Internet forums.

Teachers, apart from educational features, notice the destructive role of the

Internet offering pornography, popularising intolerant attitudes and aggressive

behaviour. Sociologists write about birth of a new type of Internet societies –

active within virtual nations, subcultures or discussion groups. Political scientists

analyse this new medium as a perfect tool for political promotion and

marketing as well as a new type of political public relations. Economists and

management specialists noticed commercial applications of the Internet – today

e-business and e-commerce have become crucial for numerous companies,

enterprises and banks carrying out virtual transactions and operating virtual

money.

1.1. Information society and the Internet

Social changes connected with subsequent phases of technological

innovations are associated with the emergence of a new form called

information society, knowledge society or network society. There are

numerous publications concerning this issue; however, there is no

common definition for it. The ongoing discussions do not solve the

dispute whether the society is emerging as a long-term effect of applying

more and more sophisticated solutions concerning communication and

information technology in the lives of individuals, enterprises and

administration or we are observing a process of revolutionary social

changes determined by a technological factor – an information revolution

(May, 2003).

From the point of view of the historical association model,

information society is as different from industrial society as industrial

society from agrarian society. This is the model used by A. Toffler (1980)

in the concept of “the third wave”, as well as applied by J. Naisbitt in

“Megatrends” (1982). According to L. Groff (1993-1994), a characteristic

* Sociology Department - The University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn.