The Second Media Age

This book examines the implications of new communication technologies in the light of the most recent work in social and cultural theory and argues that new developments in electronic media, such as the Internet and Virtual Reality, justify the designation of a "second media age".

Part I: Theoretical Reconsiderations: . 1. Social Theory and the New Media. 2. Postmodern Virtualities. 3. Postmodernity and the Politics of Multiculturalism. 4. The Mode of Information and Postmodernity. 5. Databases as Discourse, or Electronic Interpellations. 6. Critical Theory and TechnoCulture: Habermas and Baudrillard. Part II: Medias: . 7. Politics in the Mode of Information: Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. . 8. RoboBody. 9. What Does Wotan Want? Ambivalent Feminism in Wagner's Ring. . 10. War in the Mode of Information. Notes. Index.