Manuel Castells
Manuel Castells Oliván (Catalan: [kəsˈteʎs]; born 9 February 1942) is a Spanish sociologist. He is well known for his authorship of a trilogy of works, entitled The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. He is a scholar of the information society, communication and globalization.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Castells and the second or maternal family name is Oliván.
Manuel Castells
Pedro Duque (Universities)
- Fernando Castells Adriaensens (father)
- Josefina Olivan Escartin (mother)
Research on the information society, communication and globalization
Organization theory
Network society
University of Cambridge; University of Southern California; Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia); EHESS; University of Paris X: Nanterre
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Castells is the Full Professor of Sociology, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), in Barcelona. He is also the University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair Professor of Communication Technology and Society at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Additionally, he is the Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 24 years. He is also a fellow of St. John's College at the University of Cambridge and holds the chair of Network Society at Collège d’Études Mondiales, Paris.
The 2000–2014 research survey of the Social Sciences Citation Index ranks him as the world's fifth most-cited social science scholar, and the foremost-cited communication scholar.[2]
In 2012, Castells was awarded the Holberg Prize,[3] for having "shaped our understanding of the political dynamics of urban and global economies in the network society."[4] In 2013, he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Sociology for "his wide-ranging and imaginative thinking through of the implications of the great technological changes of our time."[5]
In January 2020, he was appointed Minister of Universities in the Sánchez II Government of Spain,[6] position he held until his resignation in December 2021.[7]
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Manuel Castells was born on February 9, 1942, in the city of Hellín, in La Mancha region, Spain. His parents, Fernando Castells Adriaensens and Josefina Olivan Escartin were both civil servants. He also has a younger sister named Irene. The family’s residence in La Mancha was short lived, as it was related to Castells’ parents’ work. In fact, due to the mobility of his father’s career as a finance inspector, Castells’ childhood was also mobile. He grew up in the cities of Madrid, Cartagena, and Valencia.[8]
Politics were a part of Castells’ life from an early age. He notes:
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Critical responses to Castells[edit]
Over the years, Castells’ work has been met with several noteworthy critiques. Some criticisms of Castells’ work compare his ideas to functionalism, in that they include some “abstract system-building.” In other words, there is a certain level of inattention to individuals, while sweeping generalizations are made about society.[28] Additionally, Castells’ work includes observations about the intense global influence of informationalism. There is some discrepancy about how much of the globe is truly “dominated” by expansive informational networks. The global population is so diverse that there are many exceptions to the idea of complete global domination. These information networks have the potential to be useful “ideal types” for studying global relations, but one should exercise caution when using them to model the real world.[28] Castells has also been criticized for the conservatism that appears within his theories. He has noted that there is “little chance of social change” within the network society. This reveals a thought process that supports the status quo, which can be a problem for social change and justice movements.[28] Related to this criticism, some scholars have found it peculiar that while Castells’ theorizes quite a bit about global connection, he does not explore the potential of those global connections to establish an international system for the protection of human rights and cultural difference.[29]
Manuel Castells is one of the world's most often-cited social science and communications scholars.[30][31] Castells is a sole author of 23 books and editor or co-editor of fifteen more, as well as over one hundred articles in academic journals. The trilogy, The Information Age, has been compared to the work of Karl Marx and Max Weber. It took him fifteen years to conduct research for the trilogy.[32]