Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
New Media & Society
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Goodwin, I.
Right arrow Articles by Spittle, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The European Union and the information society

Discourse, power and policy

Ian Goodwin

University of Birmingham, irguk{at}irguk.free-online.co.uk

Steve Spittle

University of Wolverhampton, in7210{at}wlc@ac.uk

In this article, critical discourse analysis is utilized to scrutinize the discursive structure of an increasingly contested debate over the social, cultural and economic impact of the ‘information society’ within the European Union (EU). This debate has informed the development of information policy goals and affected their implementation. This analysis builds upon previous critiques of language and policy by focusing on language as a mode of social action. Four major discourses are identified: threat/opportunity, technological determinism, market dominance and citizen vs consumer. Despite the articulation of a broad set of policy goals, it is argued that these discourses act to structure the debate in such a way that its economic parameters become privileged, at the expense of social and cultural factors. Further, it is contended that this has consequences for information policy, and the type of information society that will ultimately be achieved.

Key Words: critical discourse analysis • European Union (EU) • information policy • information society

New Media & Society, Vol. 4, No. 2, 225-249 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/146144480200400206
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Media Culture SocietyHome page
M. Nivala
Simple answers for complex problems: education and ICT in Finnish information society strategies
Media Culture Society, May 1, 2009; 31(3): 433 - 448.
[PDF]

Home page
 Media Culture SocietyHome page
S. Livingstone, P. Lunt, and L. Miller
Citizens and consumers: discursive debates during and after the Communications Act 2003
Media Culture Society, July 1, 2007; 29(4): 613 - 638.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 DISCOURSE & COMMUNICATIONHome page
S. Livingstone, P. Lunt, and L. Miller
Citizens, consumers and the citizen-consumer: articulating the citizen interest in media and communications regulation
Discourse & Communication, February 1, 2007; 1(1): 63 - 89.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 New Media SocietyHome page
T. Olsson
Appropriating civic information and communication technology: a critical study of Swedish ICT policy visions
New Media Society, August 1, 2006; 8(4): 611 - 627.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 New Media SocietyHome page
L. S. Clark, C. Demont-Heinrich, and S. A. Webber
Ethnographic Interviews on the Digital Divide
New Media Society, August 1, 2004; 6(4): 529 - 547.
[Abstract] [PDF]