Alistair S Duff
Biographic Data
| ID | 380075 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alistair S Duff |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alistair S |
| FAMILY NAME | Duff |
| SIGNATURE | DUFF A S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Edinburgh Napier University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5370-9019 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Right to Know in the Information Polity
In a world struggling with a surfeit of misinformation and disinformation, the task of justifying a citizen’s right to reliable information, the so-called ‘right to know’, is urgent and unavoidable. To that end, the article deploys the theory of justice of John Rawls, a leading figure in Anglophone political philosophy in the twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. The ‘neo-Rawlsians’ are introduced as a school which has sought to apply Rawls…
Castells versus Bell
Daniel Bell (1919-2011) and Manuel Castells (1942-) are the grand theorists of the information age. The article provides a detailed, up-to-date, comparative analysis of their writings. It begins with their methodologies, identifying numerous commonalities in their post-Marxian frameworks. The substance of their theories is then examined, where it is shown that both plausibly explain contemporary social reality in terms of the interplay of three f…
L ippmann, W alter
Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) was America's most distinguished political commentator. He also wrote numerous treatises, notably Public Opinion (1922), The Good Society (1937), and The Public Philosophy (1955), where he was able to address in greater depth key issues facing twentieth‐century liberal democracies. In particular, he tackled the problem of underinformed electorates and the question of the origins of social and political morality. The en…
The Fellowship of the Net
The article revisits the tradition of religious socialism as a potential resource for the information age. It begins with a detailed exposition and defence of the ideas of network society theorist Manuel Castells. However, the article questions Castells’ reliance on contemporary social movements as a response to what he calls the bipolar opposition between the net and the self. Arguing for a more universal and ontological solution, it seeks to re…
On Political Epunditry
The concept of ePunditry is developed as a lens through which to view the important phenomenon of political blogging. Three conceptual frameworks were selected for their relevance to the idea of computer-enhanced commentary: the information society thesis, the notion of the fifth estate and its relationship with the fourth, and the increasingly celebrated ideal of deliberative democracy. The empirical content of the inquiry comprised interviews w…
Rating the revolution
Silicon Valley, California – home of Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and so on – is widely regarded as the epicentre of the information revolution. However, it is not just a technical or economic phenomenon; it has also made a social revolution. The article evaluates Silicon Valley from a normative perspective, seeking to identify its real societal impact, negative as well as positive. A select review of significant literature is followed by ex…
The ecology of the ePundit
This paper explores hybrid forms of contemporary political opinion-making online, which we name ePunditry. The ePundit utilizes Web 2.0 technologies and networks to distribute their work: changing and challenging the boundaries and hierarchies of the existing opinion space, across multiple platforms. Drawing on the language of media ecology we define and give examples of ePunditry. We also consider the impact of the ePundit upon the wider media l…
Information Society
Needing NoDI (normal democratic information)? The problem of information poverty in post-industrial society
The paper addresses one of the main paradoxes of post-industrial society: information poverty. While digital divides of various types have been extensively theorized and researched, the actual condition of the information poor – those at the wrong end of socioeconomic information-divides – has not received sufficient attention. Yet if advanced nations have ‘informatized’ and thus become, at least in some measure, information societies, the plight…
Pundit for Post-Industrial Times? Walter Lippmann as an Information Society Theorist
Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) was perhaps the most prominent pundit of the late-industrial era. His place in the annals of journalism is secure, but his legacy should not stop there. The article argues for a fresh interpretation of Lippmann as an early theorist of the information society. This thesis rests on three propositions. First, in Public Opinion and other less famous books, Lippmann focused productively on the empirical and normative aspect…
Information Society Studies
We are often told that we are "living in an information society" or that we are "information workers." But what exactly do these claims mean, and how might they be verified? In this important methodological study, Alistair S. Duff cuts through the rhetoric to get to the bottom of the "information society thesis." Wide-ranging in coverage, this study will be of interest to scholars in information science, communication and media studies and social…
Powers in the Land
The expansion of opinion is one of the key developments in the British press, as elsewhere. The article analyses the role of one of the most important types of commentator, newspaper political columnists, examining their credentials, sources, information society prospects, and putative impact. Using data from interviews with some of Britain's leading journalists, the study is able to corroborate findings from a wide-ranging literature review. In …
‘Laying a foundation of fact’
This article explores affinities between postindustrialism and modes of thinking characteristic of the Fabian Society, especially in the first half of the twentieth century. In the hands of Daniel Bell and others, the information society thesis postulates the coming of a postindustrial society marked by the centrality of information and knowledge. While caveats abound in Bell's version, the thesis has been generally optimistic in outlook, portray…
Social Engineering in the Information Age
This article explores the relevance of social engineering for the postindustrial epoch. The concept of social engineering has been dormant in recent years, stained by the behavior of police states in the 20th century. Yet stripped of its excesses, social engineering still represents a defensible moral and political enterprise. What is needed for the 21st century, however, is a chastened, deontological theory of social engineering, one that accept…
The Sickness of an Information Society R. H. Tawney and the post-industrial condition
R. H. Tawney is frequently cited as one of the most distinguished social theorists of the twentieth century, and his position in the British school of ethical, democratic socialism is assured. This paper revisits that contribution for the so-called post- industrial age. It emphasizes Tawney’s roots in philosophical idealism and Christian socialism, demonstrating how these systems underpinned his famous critiques of inequality and the acquisitive …
Powers in the Land
The expansion of opinion is one of the key developments in the British press, as elsewhere. The article analyses the role of one of the most important types of commentator, newspaper political columnists, examining their credentials, sources, information society prospects, and putative impact. Using data from interviews with some of Britain's leading journalists, the study is able to corroborate findings from a wide-ranging literature review. In …
Social Engineering in the Information Age
This article explores the relevance of social engineering for the postindustrial epoch. The concept of social engineering has been dormant in recent years, stained by the behavior of police states in the 20th century. Yet stripped of its excesses, social engineering still represents a defensible moral and political enterprise. What is needed for the 21st century, however, is a chastened, deontological theory of social engineering, one that accept…
Castells versus Bell
Daniel Bell (1919-2011) and Manuel Castells (1942-) are the grand theorists of the information age. The article provides a detailed, up-to-date, comparative analysis of their writings. It begins with their methodologies, identifying numerous commonalities in their post-Marxian frameworks. The substance of their theories is then examined, where it is shown that both plausibly explain contemporary social reality in terms of the interplay of three f…
The Sickness of an Information Society R. H. Tawney and the post-industrial condition
R. H. Tawney is frequently cited as one of the most distinguished social theorists of the twentieth century, and his position in the British school of ethical, democratic socialism is assured. This paper revisits that contribution for the so-called post- industrial age. It emphasizes Tawney’s roots in philosophical idealism and Christian socialism, demonstrating how these systems underpinned his famous critiques of inequality and the acquisitive …
Social Engineering in the Information Age
This article explores the relevance of social engineering for the postindustrial epoch. The concept of social engineering has been dormant in recent years, stained by the behavior of police states in the 20th century. Yet stripped of its excesses, social engineering still represents a defensible moral and political enterprise. What is needed for the 21st century, however, is a chastened, deontological theory of social engineering, one that accept…
‘Laying a foundation of fact’
This article explores affinities between postindustrialism and modes of thinking characteristic of the Fabian Society, especially in the first half of the twentieth century. In the hands of Daniel Bell and others, the information society thesis postulates the coming of a postindustrial society marked by the centrality of information and knowledge. While caveats abound in Bell's version, the thesis has been generally optimistic in outlook, portray…
Powers in the Land
The expansion of opinion is one of the key developments in the British press, as elsewhere. The article analyses the role of one of the most important types of commentator, newspaper political columnists, examining their credentials, sources, information society prospects, and putative impact. Using data from interviews with some of Britain's leading journalists, the study is able to corroborate findings from a wide-ranging literature review. In …
Pundit for Post-Industrial Times? Walter Lippmann as an Information Society Theorist
Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) was perhaps the most prominent pundit of the late-industrial era. His place in the annals of journalism is secure, but his legacy should not stop there. The article argues for a fresh interpretation of Lippmann as an early theorist of the information society. This thesis rests on three propositions. First, in Public Opinion and other less famous books, Lippmann focused productively on the empirical and normative aspect…
Information Society Studies
We are often told that we are "living in an information society" or that we are "information workers." But what exactly do these claims mean, and how might they be verified? In this important methodological study, Alistair S. Duff cuts through the rhetoric to get to the bottom of the "information society thesis." Wide-ranging in coverage, this study will be of interest to scholars in information science, communication and media studies and social…
Information Society
Needing NoDI (normal democratic information)? The problem of information poverty in post-industrial society
The paper addresses one of the main paradoxes of post-industrial society: information poverty. While digital divides of various types have been extensively theorized and researched, the actual condition of the information poor – those at the wrong end of socioeconomic information-divides – has not received sufficient attention. Yet if advanced nations have ‘informatized’ and thus become, at least in some measure, information societies, the plight…
Rating the revolution
Silicon Valley, California – home of Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and so on – is widely regarded as the epicentre of the information revolution. However, it is not just a technical or economic phenomenon; it has also made a social revolution. The article evaluates Silicon Valley from a normative perspective, seeking to identify its real societal impact, negative as well as positive. A select review of significant literature is followed by ex…
The ecology of the ePundit
This paper explores hybrid forms of contemporary political opinion-making online, which we name ePunditry. The ePundit utilizes Web 2.0 technologies and networks to distribute their work: changing and challenging the boundaries and hierarchies of the existing opinion space, across multiple platforms. Drawing on the language of media ecology we define and give examples of ePunditry. We also consider the impact of the ePundit upon the wider media l…
L ippmann, W alter
Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) was America's most distinguished political commentator. He also wrote numerous treatises, notably Public Opinion (1922), The Good Society (1937), and The Public Philosophy (1955), where he was able to address in greater depth key issues facing twentieth‐century liberal democracies. In particular, he tackled the problem of underinformed electorates and the question of the origins of social and political morality. The en…
The Fellowship of the Net
The article revisits the tradition of religious socialism as a potential resource for the information age. It begins with a detailed exposition and defence of the ideas of network society theorist Manuel Castells. However, the article questions Castells’ reliance on contemporary social movements as a response to what he calls the bipolar opposition between the net and the self. Arguing for a more universal and ontological solution, it seeks to re…
On Political Epunditry
The concept of ePunditry is developed as a lens through which to view the important phenomenon of political blogging. Three conceptual frameworks were selected for their relevance to the idea of computer-enhanced commentary: the information society thesis, the notion of the fifth estate and its relationship with the fourth, and the increasingly celebrated ideal of deliberative democracy. The empirical content of the inquiry comprised interviews w…
Castells versus Bell
Daniel Bell (1919-2011) and Manuel Castells (1942-) are the grand theorists of the information age. The article provides a detailed, up-to-date, comparative analysis of their writings. It begins with their methodologies, identifying numerous commonalities in their post-Marxian frameworks. The substance of their theories is then examined, where it is shown that both plausibly explain contemporary social reality in terms of the interplay of three f…
The Right to Know in the Information Polity
In a world struggling with a surfeit of misinformation and disinformation, the task of justifying a citizen’s right to reliable information, the so-called ‘right to know’, is urgent and unavoidable. To that end, the article deploys the theory of justice of John Rawls, a leading figure in Anglophone political philosophy in the twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. The ‘neo-Rawlsians’ are introduced as a school which has sought to apply Rawls…
Political science (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Social science (8 works) · Social Media and Politics (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Environmental ethics (5 works)