Od masovnog do mrežnog komuniciranja: promjene ili kontinuiteti?

The paper analyzes the characteristics of a networked society, which Manuel Castells (2009) defines as a social structure and form of society constructed around digital networks. Contemporary authors tend to assess the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary public communication and associated social relations, within a technological deterministic framework. The evaluation of technologies is approached with a techno-optimistic and/or techno-pessimistic attitude, albeit the latter dominates in the last two decades. In addition to the primary focus on technology as an agent of social change, it is noticeable that the period of expanding use of information and communication technologies is often viewed as a “cut” – a discontinuity with the earlier period when mass-communication technologies dominated. Therefore, the paper critically examines a) the contemporary technological determinist notions of information and communication technologies, and b) the treatment of the transition from mass to online communication as a “cut” in the features of public communication and the associated social relations. The paper emphasizes the techno-pessimistic critique of network technologies and communication practices, which is analytically placed in a wider diachronic context that enables an understanding of social stability and change in the assessment of public communication and associated social relations. The thesis of the paper is that the transition from mass to online public communication and the social implications of this process should be viewed as continuity rather than radical social change. Instead of a technological deterministic approach, broader social trends that have contributed to contemporary characteristics of public communication and user practices should be considered.