Abstract
Social scientists and futurists have suggested that societal development is advancing to a novel stage, to an 'information society'. However, the crucial qualifiers of this 'new' society are ambiguous. Furthermore, environmental goals have created new challenges for information society studies. This paper examines the interaction and dynamics between the information society and sustainable development, which most often manifest themselves as competing scientific and socio-political discourses. On the one hand, there is the potential for reducing the stress on the environment: the emergence of information technologies and services can lead to a dematerialisation of production and immaterialisation of consumption. On the other hand, there are risks: positive environmental effects might be overcome by the 'rebound effect' caused by excessive economic growth. It is concluded that further theoretical and empirical studies are needed in order to examine the complex and contradictory relationship between the information society and environmental issues.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 485-498 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Futures |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1998 |
| Publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Funding
This article has been written as part of a research project `Citizenship and Ecomodernization in the Information Society. The Futures Approach', which is carried out in the Finland Futures Research Centre and is funded by the Academy of Finland.
Publication forum classification
- Publication forum level 2
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Development
- Sociology and Political Science
