The spirit of networks does not simply describe the new realities of post-Fordism. It also legitimizes them by framing them within a technologistic framework, that is, by tracing them to their roots in network technology. By doing so, it depoliticizes, neutralizes, naturalizes, and universalizes social processes that are politically charged and particularistic. This is perhaps most readily evident in the keywords that dot the discourse and that are taken quite directly from the technical terminology of information networks professionals: “networks,” “distribution,” and “nodes.” Simply put, the spirit of networks legitimizes the wholesale transformation entailed by the shift from the Fordist phase of capitalism to its post-Fordist phase. Table 8.1 summarizes these transformations along some key coordinates.
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Media and New Capitalism in the Digital Age