Is Mexico an Information Society?
Introduction
It is important to have a first approach of what is understood by information society since this term can change amongst authors. Some media experts claim there is no information society but a network society or that we are experiencing is informatisation of already established relationships. However the diversification of the term, the Mexican case will be addressed according to some common concepts of industrial society, technology, etc. To begin with, Webster acknowledges that an information society can be understood with different definitions: Technological, economic, occupational, spatial and cultural. Every one of this proves how Mexico is not fit to be called an information society. In the case of the technological approach, Mexico falls short to provide most of its citizens has access to the latest information technologies or that Mexican society has experienced a structural impact due to technologic innovations. Poverty, exclusion and lack of access to a digital education to the majority of citizens are still an alarming reality.
From the economic approach, agriculture and Industry remain the back bone of Mexico’s national product, where information business are nothing yet but an incipient model and at no point can be called an information economy. Related to this point it is also impossible to see Mexico as an information society under the occupational approach given that most of the jobs are currently found on the industrial and service sector.
For the case of spatial and cultural aspects, although Internet has brought the most important events of the country available to many, there are still a large amount of communities unreached by new media, or even electricity, and where the traditional media is highly manipulated as will be later discussed. It is also difficult to find, outside the big three cities (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey), that highly educated youth which has ready access to knowledge and to diverse sort of
It is important to have a first approach of what is understood by information society since this term can change amongst authors. Some media experts claim there is no information society but a network society or that we are experiencing is informatisation of already established relationships. However the diversification of the term, the Mexican case will be addressed according to some common concepts of industrial society, technology, etc. To begin with, Webster acknowledges that an information society can be understood with different definitions: Technological, economic, occupational, spatial and cultural. Every one of this proves how Mexico is not fit to be called an information society. In the case of the technological approach, Mexico falls short to provide most of its citizens has access to the latest information technologies or that Mexican society has experienced a structural impact due to technologic innovations. Poverty, exclusion and lack of access to a digital education to the majority of citizens are still an alarming reality.
From the economic approach, agriculture and Industry remain the back bone of Mexico’s national product, where information business are nothing yet but an incipient model and at no point can be called an information economy. Related to this point it is also impossible to see Mexico as an information society under the occupational approach given that most of the jobs are currently found on the industrial and service sector.
For the case of spatial and cultural aspects, although Internet has brought the most important events of the country available to many, there are still a large amount of communities unreached by new media, or even electricity, and where the traditional media is highly manipulated as will be later discussed. It is also difficult to find, outside the big three cities (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey), that highly educated youth which has ready access to knowledge and to diverse sort of
References: Edgar Moreno; “Cristina Massa: Fighting Monopolies in Mexico”, August 3, 2012. Available at: http://www.americasquarterly.org/cristina-massa-fighting-monopolies-in-mexico Viewed on November 13, 2012. Paddy Scannel; Communication and Technology, Canada 1950-1960 in “Media and Communication”, Sage, June 2007 Frank Webster; Theories of the Information Society, Taylor and Francis, 2006 Castells Manuel; The network society: a cross cultural perspective, Edward Elgar, 2004 Perez Carlota; Technological revolutions and techno-economic paradigms, The Other Canon Foundation, Norway and Tallin University of Technology, Tallin, 2009 Perez Carlota; A Vision for Latin America: a resource-based strategy for technological dynamism and social inclusion, CEPAL, 2008. [ 8 ]. Castells Manuel; The network society: a cross cultural perspective, Edward Elgar, 2004. P. 7 [ 9 ] [ 10 ]. Moreno Edgar; “Cristina Massa: Fighting Monopolies in Mexico”, August 3, 2012. Available at: http://www.americasquarterly.org/cristina-massa-fighting-monopolies-in-mexico Viewed on November 13, 2012. [ 12 ]. Edgar Moreno; “Cristina Massa: Fighting Monopolies in Mexico”, August 3, 2012. Available at: http://www.americasquarterly.org/cristina-massa-fighting-monopolies-in-mexico Viewed on November 13, 2012. [ 19 ]. Perez Carlota; A Vision for Latin America: a resource-based strategy for technological dynamism and social inclusion, CEPAL, 2008, p.123.