The Information Society: A Global Discourse and its Local Translation into Regional Organizational Practices

Abstract

The discourse on the information society is characterised by a democratic ideal of “general access.” In this chapter, we follow the transformation of such an ideal as the discourse of the information society is translated by the Swedish parliament and implemented in a high-tech region north of Stockholm. We will see that as the discourse is being implemented, it incorporates ethnic categorical boundaries that structure the region and segregates the community where it is being implemented. The main argument of the chapter is that categorical inequalities are embedded in the economic rationality/business logic that structures the discourse on the information society, resulting in socioeconomic, geographic, and technological segregation.