Communication Networks and Modernization

The last three decades have witnessed an acceleration in the use, demand, and need of telecommunications, data communication, and mass communication transmitted and, increasingly, integrated into networks. This acceleration can be explained by a synthesis of the modernization theories of Giddens (the concept of time-space distantiation) and Beniger (the problems of control in a complex society). A central theme is the unity of scale extension and scale reduction that can be perceived in all spheres and at all levels of modern Western society. Extending Beniger's thesis of a control revolution at the last turn of the century, it is suggested that the present acceleration in communication and information is part of a second communication revolution.