ABSTRACT
There is within current social science a view, frequently advanced, that information is now more central to our way of life, so much so that many scholars conceive of emergence of a new entity, the Information Society. Though the concept developed inside academic circles, the idea of an Information Society has taken an even stronger hold outside higher education. Information Society is emerging, no one denies that what might be called informatization is of major significance for advanced societies. Moreover, as readers will see more clearly as they make their way through this text, the theoretical ideas developed in academe over last thirty years have had important influences on contemporary politics, so this isn't just a matter of academics trailing behind 'real-world' changes. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on surveillance, since information gathering and analysis is so much at heart of the growth of information.
