End of Millennium (v.3) (The information age - economy, society & culture) - Softcover

"Not since Weber has there been such a determined and largely successful effort to bring to bear the results and analytical perspectives of all the social sciences on the evolution of society." Chris Freeman, University of Sussex "These three volumes represent a staggering undertaking. Castells has attempted nothing less than to take stock of our entire contemporary world. He has succeeded beyond any reasonable expectation. Truly global in scope, yet sacrificing nothing of the concreteness and detail without which enterprises of this kind can be empty and unsatisfying, this trilogy must rank as one of the great works of 'grand theory' of our time." Krishan Kumar, University of Virginia "The first great philosopher of cyberspace, a big thinker in the European tradition who can nonetheless tell the difference between a bit and a browser." G. Pascal Zachary, Wall Street Journal, Europe "This is a magesterial effort to paint a comprehensive view of the current-day world society in all its political, economic, social and cultural aspects, as well as its developmental tendencies. The best candidate available for the role of main reference book for the next century." Zygmunt Bauman, Universities of Leeds and Warsaw "Manuel Castells, one of the age's most extraordinary thinkers, is the guru's guru." The Guardian "The Information Age trilogy stands as a synthesis of Castell's work over the past two decades. As such, it is an excellent source for students and academics alike, offering a range of accessible and usable introductions to the work of one of the most influential theorists." Alan Latham, University of Auckland. "The Information Age highlights the achievements of recent global scholarship, while pointing its readers - whether they be advanced level undergraduate or graduate students, or more established researchers and teachers - towards exciting and challenging research terrains. It is a book which will accompany us into the new millennium and beyond, helping us to make sense of the puzzling mix of newness and the ever-the-same which is 21st century capitalism. A new world indeed."Alan Latham, University of Auckland "So full are the shelves now with shallow and indulgent works on the postmodern condition, essays trapped in their own technological determinism or narrow moralism or political wishful thinking, that it has seemed unlikely that a space would be found for an enduring work of sociology examining the new world as it is changing. But Manuel Castells has found and filled that space on the shelf - and for a long time to come." Anthony Smith, The Times Higher Education Supplement "A magnum opus if there ever was one, these three books together constitute, in my view, the finest piece of contemporary social analysis to come available for at least a generations" Frank Webster, The British Journal of Sociology " The Information Age, written by Castells at the height of his intellectual power, launches him into the pre-eminence of those whose work must be read by anyone seriously engaged with trying to make sense of the world today." Frank Webster, The British Journal of Sociology " End of Millennium is the third volume of Castells' monumental study of the information age. It is an ambitious and exciting tour d'horizon of the way in which the information society has affected the political economy of different parts of the world." Mary Kaldor, University of Sussex " This volume, like so much of Castells's work, fizzes with ideas and intellectual energy. Along with the other two volumes of The Information Age, it will, I am sure, be a central point of reference for analysts of the global economy and society for years to come." A. Latham, The University of Auckland "End of Millenniumand its companion volumes are decidedly worth a read, for Castells has an impressive grasp of the contemporary world...his descriptive material is often fascinating" John Boli, Emory University

The final volume of a trilogy, this title is devoted to processes of global social change induced by interaction between networks and identity. The author studies empirically the collapse of the Soviet Union, tracing it back to the incapacity of industrial statism to manage the transition to the information age. He shows the rise of inequality, polarization and social exclusion throughout the world, focusing on Africa, on urban poverty and on children's plight. Manuel Castells documents the formation of a global criminal economy that deeply affects economies and politics in many countries. He analyzes the political and cultural foundations of the emergence of the Asian Pacific as the most dynamic region in the global economy. And he reflects on the contradictions of European unification, proposing the concept of the network state. In the general conclusion of the trilogy, included in this volume, Castells draws together the threads of his arguments and his findings, presenting a systematic interpretation of the world at this end of the millennium.