An information society is a society or subculture in which the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation, and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid growth of a variety of forms of information. Proponents of this theory posit that these technologies are impacting the most important forms of social organization, including education, the economy,Hilbert, M. (2023). Digital Technology and Social Change [Open Online Course at the University of California] freely available at: https://www.coursera.org/teach-specialization/digital-technology-and-social-change health, government, warfare, and levels of democracy. The people who are able to partake in this form of society are sometimes called either computer users or even digital citizens, defined by K. Mossberger as “Those who use the Internet regularly and effectively”. This is one of many dozen internet terms that have been identified to suggest that humans are entering a new and different phase of society.
Some of the markers of this steady change may be technological, economic, occupational, spatial, cultural, or a combination of all of these. Information society is seen as a successor to industrial society. Concepts that are closely related include the post-industrial society (post-fordism), post-modern society, computer society and knowledge society, telematic society, society of the spectacle (postmodernism), the Information Revolution and the Information Age, network society (Manuel Castells), and even liquid modernity (Zygmunt Bauman).
Definition There is currently no universally accepted concept of what exactly can be defined as an information society and what shall not be included in the term. Most theoreticians agree that a transformation can be seen as started somewhere between the 1970s, the early 1990s transformations of the Eastern Bloc nations from socialist to capitalist economies and the 2000s period that formed most of today's net principles and currently as is changing the way societies work fundamentally. Information technology goes beyond the internet, as the principles of internet design and usage influence other areas, and there are discussions about how big the influence of specific media or specific modes of production really is. Frank Webster notes five major types of information that can be used to define information society: technological, economic, occupational, spatial and cultural. According to Webster, the character of information has transformed the way that we live today. How we conduct ourselves centers around theoretical knowledge and information.Webster, F. (2006). Chapter 2: What is an information society? In Theories of the Information Society, 3rd ed. (pp. 15-31). New York: Routledge.
Kasiwulaya and Gomo (Makerere University) allude that information societies are those that have intensified their use of IT for economic, social, cultural and political transformation. In 2005, governments reaffirmed their dedication to the foundations of the Information Society in the Tunis Commitment and outlined the basis for implementation and follow-up in the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. In particular, the Tunis Agenda addresses the issues of financing of ICTs for development and Internet governance that could not be resolved in the first phase.
Some people, such as Antonio Negri, characterize the information society as one in which people do immaterial labour. By this, they appear to refer to the production of knowledge or cultural artifacts. One problem with this model is that it ignores the material and essentially industrial basis of the society. However it does point to a problem for workers, namely how many creative people does this society need to function? For example, it may be that you only need a few star performers, rather than a plethora of non-celebrities, as the work of those performers can be easily distributed, forcing all secondary players to the bottom of the market. It is now common for publishers to promote only their best selling authors and to try to avoid the rest—even if they still sell steadily. Films are becoming more and more judged, in terms of distribution, by their first weekend's performance, in many cases cutting out opportunity for word-of-mouth development.
Michael Buckland characterizes information in society in his book Information and Society. Buckland expresses the idea that information can be interpreted differently from person to person based on that individual's experiences. Most of the meanings of the word information fall into three categories: information as knowledge, information as a process, and information as a thing. Thus, the term information society refers to the social importance given to communication and information in today's society, where social, economic and cultural relations are involved. In the information society, the process of capturing, processing and communicating information is the main element that characterizes it. Thus, in this type of society, the vast majority of it will be dedicated to the provision of services and said services will consist of the processing, distribution or use of information.
Considering that metaphors and technologies of information move forward in a reciprocal relationship, we can describe some societies (especially the Japanese society) as an information society because we think of it as such.James Boyle, 1996, 6Kasiwulaya and Walter, Makerere University. Makerere University Press.
The growth of computer information in society
The growth of the amount of technologically mediated information has been quantified in different ways, including society's technological capacity to store information, to communicate information, and to compute information. It is estimated that, the world's technological capacity to store information grew from 2.6 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1986, which is the informational equivalent to less than one 730-MB CD-ROM per person in 1986 (539 MB per person), to 295 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007."The World’s Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information" , Martin Hilbert and Priscila López (2011), Science, 332(6025), 60-65; free access to the article through here: martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html This is the informational equivalent of 60 CD-ROM per person in 2007 and represents a sustained annual growth rate of some 25%. The world's combined technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks was the informational equivalent of 174 newspapers per person per day in 2007.
The world's combined effective capacity to exchange information through two-way telecommunications networks was 281 petabytes of (optimally compressed) information in 1986, 471 petabytes in 1993, 2.2 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2000, and 65 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007, which is the informational equivalent of 6 newspapers per person per day in 2007. The world's technological capacity to compute information with humanly guided general-purpose computers grew from 3.0 MIPS in 1986, to 6.4 MIPS in 2007, experiencing the fastest growth rate of over 60% per year during the last two decades.
James R. Beniger describes the necessity of information in modern society in the following way: “The need for sharply increased control that resulted from the industrialization of material processes through application of inanimate sources of energy probably accounts for the rapid development of automatic feedback technology in the early industrial period (1740-1830)” (p. 174) “Even with enhanced feedback control, industry could not have developed without the enhanced means to process matter and energy, not only as inputs of the raw materials of production but also as outputs distributed to final consumption.”(p. 175)
Development of the information society model
One of the first people to develop the concept of the information society was the economist Fritz Machlup. In 1933, Fritz Machlup began studying the effect of patents on research. His work culminated in the study The production and distribution of knowledge in the United States in 1962. This book was widely regarded and was eventually translated into Russian and Japanese. The Japanese have also studied the information society (or jōhōka shakai, 情報化社会).
The issue of technologies and their role in contemporary society have been discussed in the scientific literature using a range of labels and concepts. This section introduces some of them. Ideas of a knowledge or information economy, post-industrial society, postmodern society, network society, the information revolution, informational capitalism, network capitalism, and the like, have been debated over the last several decades.
Fritz Machlup (1962) introduced the concept of the knowledge industry. He began studying the effects of patents on research before distinguishing five sectors of the knowledge sector: education, research and development, mass media, information technologies, information services. Based on this categorization he calculated that in 1959 29% per cent of the GNP in the USA had been produced in knowledge industries.
Digital Divide A central issue in the information society is the digital divide, which refers to the unequal distribution of access to, use of, and benefits derived from information and communication technologies (ICTs) across different populations. The concept emerged in the mid-1990s and has evolved from a narrow focus on physical access to computers and the Internet into a broader framework. Jan van Dijk distinguishes three levels of digital inequality: a first level concerning material access to devices and connectivity; a second level covering differences in digital skills and patterns of use; and a third level related to the social, economic, and political outcomes that individuals obtain from their use of digital technologies.
Pippa Norris offers a complementary classification based on geographic and political dimensions. She identifies a global divide (differences in Internet access between industrialized and developing countries), a social divide (inequalities between socioeconomic groups within a single country), and a democratic divide (the gap between those who do and do not use digital resources for civic and political participation). This framework shows that unequal access to ICTs not only reflects existing economic stratification but also has consequences for democratic participation and political representation in the information society.
Empirical data illustrate the scale of the problem. According to the International Telecommunication Union, in 2024 approximately 5.5 billion people—68 per cent of the world's population—were using the Internet. However, penetration rates varied sharply by income level: 93 per cent in high-income countries compared with only 27 per cent in low-income countries. Significant gaps also persist along gender lines and between urban and rural areas, particularly in developing countries. The ITU's 2025 edition notes that while nearly three-quarters of the global population are now online, progress has slowed and 2.2 billion people remain without Internet access.