An Information society for all : a European reality?

Abstract

This text aims to evaluate the potential realisation of the European Commission's initiative ìeEurope, an Information Society for all", focusing on the role of technology in relation to societal change and development. This evaluation will be conducted within the framework of a techno-theoretical debate denoting deterministic and anti-essentialist perspectives on a background of Qvortrups theory of complexity. My main objective is to take a critical stand to whether or not the transfer of information technology in general, and the internet in particular, can be used as a bridge of convergence generating social and economical cohesion between European citizens. As such I aim to reveal that the key goals, constituting the Commission's very idea of an information society for all, are incompatible with European potentials. The erroneous image of the dynamics of society manifested in the initiative's theoretical framework, leads to miscalculated goals incompatible with the post-modern European reality. And therefore the eInitiative will fail.