Manuel Castells

Manuel Castells (*1942 in Catalonia) is a sociologist. Between 1967 and 1979 he taught at the University of Paris, first at the Nanterre Campus, then, since 1970, at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. In 1979 he was appointed Professor of Sociology and Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2001 he also became a research professor at the Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona.

Castells' initial focus was on the development of a new urban sociology, with particular emphasis on the role social movements played in the transformation of the urban landscape across the world. Later he increased the scope of his research even more, culminating in the Information Age (1996-1998) trilogy.

Castells analysis unfolds along three basic dimensions: production, power and experience. This stresses that the organization of the economy, of the state and its institutions, and of the ways people create meaning in their lifes through collective action are irreducible sources of social dynamics.

In the trilogy, he condenses this view to the statement "our societies are increasingly structured around the bipolar opposition of the Net and the Self" (1996, p. 3). The Net means the new, networked forms of organization whereas the Self relates to the multiple practices through which people try to reaffirm identity and meaning in a landscape of rapid change.

Manuel Castells is extraordinarily prolific. He has written more than 20 books. The most important are:

• Castells, M. (1983). The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements. Berkeley: University of California Press

• Castells, M. (1989). The Informational City: Information Technology, Economic Restructuring, and the Urban Regional Process. Oxford, UK; Cambridge, MA: Blackwell

• Castells, M. (1996). The Rise of the Network Society, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. I. Cambridge, MA; Oxford, UK: Blackwell

• Castells, M. (1997). The Power of Identity, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. II. Cambridge, MA; Oxford, UK: Blackwell

• Castells, M. (1998). The End of the Millennium, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. III. Cambridge, MA; Oxford, UK: Blackwell

• Castells, M. (2001). Internet Galaxy. Reflections on the Internet, Business and Society. Oxford UP

• Castells, M. and Himanen, P. (2002). The Information Society and the Welfare State: The Finnish Model. Oxford UP, Oxford

On-line resources A longish review of his Information Age trilogy (http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS/articles/stalder.htm)

The real video stream of a one hour long interview with Castells, conducted in 2001 (http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Castells/castells-con0)