Virtual Politics: Identity and Community in Cyberspace
Virtual Politics is a critical overview of the newdigitalbody
politic, with new technologies framing the discussion of key themes
in social theory. This book shows how these new technologies are
altering the nature of identity and agency, the relation of self to
other, and the structure of community and political representation.
The principal theme of Virtual Politics is that electronically and
digitally simulated environments offer an important metaphor for
understanding social relations. This volume focuses on how virtual
realities effectively extend space, time, and the body, showing how
technologies such as the automobile and environments such as the
movie theater and the shopping mall prefigure cyberspace. It also
examines the loss of political identity and agency in cyberspace
and identifies a disembodied consumer in anonymous control of a
simulated reality. Virtual Politics will be required reading for
students of sociology, social theory, and cultural studies.
Main description:
Virtual Politics is a critical overview of the new - digital - body
politic, with new technologies framing the discussion of key themes
in social theory. This book shows how these new technologies are
altering the nature of identity and agency, the relation of self to
other, and the structure of community and political
representation.
Table of contents:
Introduction
PART ONE: THE SELF, IDENTITY AND BODY IN THE AGE OF THE
VIRTUAL
Virtual Identity - David Holmes
Communities of Broadcast, Communities of Interactivity
Virtual Worlds//Virtual Bodies - Cathryn Vasseleu
Beyond Being Digital - Nicola Green
The Semiotics of Technics
An Ontology of Digital Domains - Chris Chesher
The Subject of Virtual Reality - Simon Cooper
Plenitude vs Alienation
This Abstract Body - Paul James and Freya Carkeek
PART TWO: POLITICS AND COMMUNITY IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
Virtual Urban Futures - Michael Ostwald
Community in the Abstract - Michele Willson
A Political and Ethical Dilemma?
What Space Is Cyberspace? - Mark Nunes
The Internet and Virtuality
Always Already Virtual - Patricia Wise
Feminist Politics in Cyberspace
Virtual Reality and the New Age - Chris Zigiuras
The Technologisation of the Sacred
Cyberdemocracy - Mark Poster
Internet and the Public Sphere
`Contains valuable insights for scholars teaching and researching in this field' - Political Science
Inhaltsangabe
Introduction PART ONE: THE SELF, IDENTITY AND BODY IN THE AGE OF THE VIRTUAL Virtual Identity - David Holmes Communities of Broadcast, Communities of Interactivity Virtual Worlds/Virtual Bodies - Cathryn Vasseleu Beyond Being Digital - Nicola Green The Semiotics of Technics An Ontology of Digital Domains - Chris Chesher The Subject of Virtual Reality - Simon Cooper Plenitude vs Alienation This Abstract Body - Paul James and Freya Carkeek PART TWO: POLITICS AND COMMUNITY IN VIRTUAL WORLDS Virtual Urban Futures - Michael Ostwald Community in the Abstract - Michele Willson A Political and Ethical Dilemma? What Space Is Cyberspace? - Mark Nunes The Internet and Virtuality Always Already Virtual - Patricia Wise Feminist Politics in Cyberspace Virtual Reality and the New Age - Chris Zigiuras The Technologisation of the Sacred Cyberdemocracy - Mark Poster Internet and the Public Sphere
