ABSTRACT

Castells' vision of the 'space of flows' seems to have relevance only to societies whose citizens are connected through modern technology. Castells organizes his social theory of the space of flows on the basis of its material support. The first layer of support is exchange that is implemented by technology. Technology forms the material basis in this sense for the transmission of ideas, trends, ideologies and systems of ideologies between cultures and civilizations. The second layer of support is the network nodes and hubs. The third layer is the spatial organization of societal elites, that is, where the 'orders' are coming from. These three layers of support, however, were characteristic of ancient societies and civilizations that were closely connected to each other through trade. Thus, an ancient 'space of flows' can be posited in which the material basis for these exchanges consisted of trade goods, the 'network' nodes and hubs were ports and inland cities dependent upon early trade, and the social elites were the primary stimuli for the movement of goods, services and thoughts.