This book brings together hermeneutics, actor-network theory, and new media to formulate a theory of a global network society. Hermeneutics reopens the question of unity in a fragmented world, actor-network theory reinterprets the construction of meaning as networking, and new media studies show how networking is done. Networks arise, are maintained, and are transformed by communicative actions that constitute a social operating system offering an alternative to the algorithmic logic, functionality, and systemic closure dominating solutions to problems of overcomplexity. In the social...

What are organizations? Where do they come from? How are they transformed and adapted to new situations? In the digital age and in the global network society, traditional theories of the organization can no longer answer these questions. Based on actor-network theory, this book explains organizations as flexible, open networks in which both human and non-human actors enter into socio-technical assemblies by constantly negotiating and re-negotiating programs of action. Organizations are not macro social structures or autonomous systems operating behind the backs of individuals. Instead, they...