0415281806.Routledge.The.Virtual.Dec.2002.pdf

THE VIRTUAL

This book looks at the origins and the many contemporary

meanings of the virtual. Rob Shields shows how the construction

of virtual worlds has a long history. He examines the many forms

of faith and hysteria that have surrounded computer technolo-

gies in recent years. Moving beyond the technologies themselves

he shows how the virtual plays a role in our daily lives at every

level. The virtual is also an essential concept needed to manage

innovation and risk. It is real but not actual, ideal but not

abstract. The virtual, he argues, has become one of the key organ-

izing principles of contemporary society in the public realms of

politics, business and consumption as well as in our private lives.

Rob Shields is Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at

Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

KEY IDEAS

S ERIES E DITOR : PETER HAMILTON, T HE O PEN U NIVERSITY , M ILTON K EYNES

Designed to complement the successful Key Sociologists , this series

covers the main concepts, issues, debates, and controversies in sociology

and the social sciences. The series aims to provide authoritative essays

on central topics of social science, such as community, power, work,

sexuality, inequality, benefits and ideology, class, family, etc. Books

adopt a strong individual ‘line’ constituting original essays rather than

literary surveys, and for lively and original treatments of their subject

matter. The books will be useful to students and teachers of sociology,

political science, economics, psychology, philosophy, and geography.

Class

STEPHEN EDGELL

Moral Panics

KENNETH THOMPSON

Community

GERARD DELANTY

Postmodernity

BARRY SMART

Consumption

ROBERT BOCOCK

Racism

ROBERT MILES

Citizenship

KEITH FAULKS

Risk

DEBORAH LUPTON

Culture

CHRIS JENKS

Sexuality

JEFFREY WEEKS

Globalization – second edition

MALCOLM WATERS

Social Capital

JOHN FIELD

Lifestyle

DAVID CHANEY

The Virtual

ROB SHIELDS

Mass Media

PIERRE SORLIN

THE VIRTUAL

Rob Shields

First published 2003

by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor and Francis e-Library, 2005.

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s

collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”

or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,

mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter

invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any

information storage or retrieval system, without permission

in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Shields, Rob, 1961–

The virtual / Rob Shields.

p. cm. — (Key ideas)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0–415–28180–6 (hb) — ISBN 0–415–28181–4 (pb)

1. Information society. 2. Virtual reality—Social aspects.

I. Title. II. Series.

HM851 .S546 2003

303.48 ′ 33—dc21

2002027534

ISBN 0-203-98718-7 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0–415–28180–6 (hbk)

ISBN 0–415–28181–4 (pbk)

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: