Sandywell, B. (2006) Monsters in cyberspace: cyberphobia and cultural panic in the information age. Information, Communication and Society, 9 (1). pp. 39-61. ISSN 1369-118X
Abstract
This paper explores popular attitudes toward the Internet (and computer-mediated communication more generally) by mapping some of the more threatening, transgressive and 'monstrous' images associated with cyberspace. An account of risk consciousness is developed in three parts: (1) comparisons with earlier information technologies reveals similarities and differences with regard to public attitudes toward cyberspace and its risks; (2) the development of a model of contemporary teratological space derived from images of boundary-dissolving threats, intrusive alterities and existential ambivalences created by the erosion of binary distinctions and hierarchies; and (3) possible historical and sociological explanations of cyberpanic drawing on recent theorizations of globalization (capitalism/information society theory, risk society theory, reflexive modernization theory, and alterity theory).
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Sociology (York) |
Depositing User: | York RAE Import |
Date Deposited: | 15 May 2009 11:17 |
Last Modified: | 15 May 2009 11:17 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691180500519407 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/13691180500519407 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:6372 |