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Information Technology and Social
Changes
Jongwoo Han
There are three different views
on the impacts of the current information technology revolution upon society,
economy, politics, and culture: the Continuists’, the Transformists’, and the
Structuralists’. The
Despite such divergent
assessments on the ongoing changes brought about by information technology,
many agree that rapid development in information technology has a tremendous
effect in restructuring economy and industry. The main focus of social
scientists is on how information technology affects the socio-political system
and to what extent this effects have proceeded The debates on the impacts of
information technology upon the socio-political system ought to wait for more
convincing and structural evidence to support opposing arguments. This article
takes Structuralists view and finds that the Internet, as a direct outcome of
information technology development, plays a significant catalytic role in the
socio-political system in
These two revolutionary examples share two important facts. First of all, these two seemingly discreet socio-political phenomena would have not been possible without the rapid and wide application of information technology. More specifically, such socio-political changes were ignited by the technical networks mediated by the byproduct of the information technology revolution, the Internet. Second, they were possible due to the density of human networks established prior to the advent of the advanced use of information technology. These two events establish an equation that information technology is relationship technology. Conclusively, the human density accumulated in diverse environments of Korean society was successfully combined by the connectivity provided by Internet. This article shows how these two elements, technology and human social capital, can produce synergic effects and result in the structural changes in socio-political system. These cases prove the explosive potential of the network effect observed by Robert Metcalf, Metcalf’s Law[1]. The social network theory, that human networks can be measured by two variables, density and distance among human resources.
In this article, these Korean cases aptly demonstrate that the analytical tool of this theory can be successfully applied. “Bates (1984)[2] pointed out that any information society is a complex web consisting not only of a technological infrastructure, but also an economic structure, a pattern of social relations, organizational patterns, and perhaps other facets of social organizations.” The social capital formed prior to the era of Internet is the density as distance can be narrowed down by the Internet connectivity. Korean people with characteristics of being gregarious, hyper-socialized, and group-oriented reduced the physical distance among themselves by means of PC Cafés woven together by Internet.
This article argues that among
the factors affecting the process of informatization, social capital is one of
the most critical dimensions to consider. Technology alone cannot explain such
a dynamic picture of
However, careful study on
[Table 1] Indicators of ICT infrastructure
|
|
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
Annual Growth |
|
PCs owned per 100 persons |
15.0 |
17.8 |
24.6 |
|
|
29.4 |
|
Mobile phone subscribers per 100 persons |
15.0 |
30.2 |
50.0 |
55.2 |
|
59.1 |
|
Internet users aged 7 years and over per 100 persons |
4.0 |
7.5 |
25.9 |
45.0 |
52.0 |
136.2 |
|
Internet hosts per 1,000 persons |
2.8 |
4.4 |
9.8 |
10.2 |
|
60.9 |
|
ISPs (unit) |
23 |
25 |
54 |
83 |
89 |
59.5 |
Source: 1) http://stat.nic.or.kr for data on Internet
(
2) National informatization White
Paper and Informatization Statistics Yearbook for data on the
number of PCs and mobile
phone subscribers (National Computerization Agency, 2001)
3) Population Projection for
data on population (KNSO, 1996)
Table 2 supports this argument. The hours spent on PC communication and Internet per week has almost tripled in July 2000 compared to that of three years before, April 1997. Also, computer ownership is equated with the Internet by showing the main purpose of having one in year 2000 to be 5 times that of 1997.
[Table 2] ICT access and opportunity of individuals and households
|
|
Proportions of households
with computers (%) |
PC literacy rate of aged 6
years and more (%) |
Hours spent on computer use
per week (hours) |
Individuals whose purpose
of computer use is PC comm. & Internet (%) |
Hours spent on PC
comm.& Internet per week |
|
April 1997 |
29.0 |
39.9 |
5.9 |
7.9 |
4.2 |
|
July 2000 |
46.4 |
51.6 |
17.2 |
40.4 |
10.4 |
|
Increase |
17.4% |
11.7% |
11.3 hrs |
32.5% |
6.2 hrs |
Source: 2000 Social Statistical Survey (KNSO, 2001)
A more interesting finding lies in the population
composition of the computer and Internet generations in
[Table 3] Population in
|
|
Total |
Percent |
Accumulative Percentage |
|
0-4 |
3,048,362 |
6.4% |
6.4% |
|
5-19 |
10,150,888 |
21.3% |
27.6% |
|
20s |
8,061,785 |
16.9% |
44.6% |
|
30s |
8,564,652 |
18% |
62.6% |
|
40s |
7,598,827 |
16% |
78.6% |
|
50s |
4,534,603 |
9.5% |
88.1% |
|
Over 60s |
5,680,501 |
12% |
100.1% |
Source:
Korean National Statistical Office, numbers current
In fact, the numbers of Internet users are heavily concentrated in the range from age seven, the age of an entering elementary school student, to nineteen, the age of a high school senior. According to Table 4, the penetration rate of frequent Internet user, the Netizen from age 7 to 30s in 1999 was 31.3 percent, 64.1 in 2000, and 79.8 in 2001. By December of 2001, based on the two statistical data above, Koreans in the age from 7 to 40s, approximately 70 percent of the total population, counts for round 69 percent of the total Internet users.
[Table 4] Internet Penetration Rate in
|
Time |
7-19 |
20s |
30s |
40s |
50s |
|
Oct. ‘99 |
33.6 |
41.9 |
18.5 |
12.8 |
2.9 |
|
Mar. ‘00 |
51.5 |
59.1 |
29.2 |
8.6 |
3.3 |
|
Aug. ‘00 |
65.9 |
65.9 |
35.4 |
18.5 |
4.3 |
|
Dec. ‘00 |
74.1 |
74.6 |
43.6 |
22.7 |
5.7 |
|
Mar. ‘01 |
81.6 |
78.4 |
48.4 |
29 |
6.3 |
|
Jun. ‘01 |
87.6 |
80.3 |
54.1 |
32.2 |
7.3 |
|
Sep. ‘01 |
91.1 |
84 |
61.3 |
36.6 |
8.3 |
|
Dec. ‘01 |
93.3 |
84.6 |
61.6 |
35.6 |
8.7 |
Source:
Also, according to KRNIC, 96.85 percent of elementary, 99.8 percent of junior high school, 99.9 percent of senior high school, and 99.3 percent of college students regularly use the Internet. This vividly demonstrates that the new generation is overwhelmingly leading the whole population in terms of Internet usage and is also very different from other generations. The R generation[5] approximately corresponds to two age groups from teens to 20s. The 386 Generation roughly overlaps from age group late 30s and early 40s. Heavy concentration in the young generation in the age composition of Internet users has directed the picture of the information society in Korea producing new socio-political power groups or generations such as the ‘386’ and ‘R generation.’
In early
1990s, Internet users in Korean society were not recognizable. It was in the
very late 1990s that Internet infrastructure and usage dramatically expanded. A
great leap forward in this category took place from 1998 to 1999. Since 1999,
every year almost one fourth of the total population has been newly added to
this category. In 2001, two years after,
[Table 5] Number of
Internet Users in
|
Year |
‘95 |
‘96 |
‘97 |
‘98 |
‘99 |
‘00 |
‘01 |
|
#s |
366 |
731 |
1,634 |
3,103 |
10,860 |
19,040 |
24,380 |
Source:
[Table 6] Number of IP Address
|
Feb ‘95 |
Feb. ‘96 |
Apr. ‘97 |
Feb. ‘98 |
Feb. ‘99 |
Dec. ‘99 |
Feb ‘00 |
Dec. ‘00 |
Feb. ‘01 |
Feb. ‘02 |
June ‘02 |
|
3,745 |
7,329 |
13,885 |
16,285 |
19,613 |
28,342 |
11,188,736 |
|
18,921,984 |
22,985,216 |
23,509,504 |
Source:
It is not only the speed of the
development of Internet environment but also the timing of such unprecedented
expansions in Internet environments that deserves scholarly attention. Such a
rapidly increasing rate in the penetration of Internet usage into the total
population resulted in the formation of powerful political forces. In the 2000
general election, such empowered citizens and their alliance defeated corrupt
politicians from the National Assembly. Taking Diani’s (2001) argument that the social capital is an
outcome of social movement, this article argues that the 386 Generation is a
social capital as an outcome of democratization movements since the 1960s and
this social capital combined with the Internet can produce unprecedented
political power affecting election outcome. While the 386 Generation was born
as a fairly coherent group across university campus in the 1980s, the World Cup
Game in 2002 has demonstrated that the Internet can facilitate social capital
creating many and unspecified mass into a well-coordinated resources carrying
out the public goods mobilizing .
Other
Environments for Informatization
In terms of overall indicators in
information technology (IT) infrastructure,
In this perspective, Korean
society lacks such generic legal infrastructure and political culture. Due to its
miraculous but very late economic development, information technology industry
in
However, in its actual usage of
the Internet and the impacts of the information and telecommunications
technology upon society, economy, and politics,
However, what really makes
Obviously, government policy is
the first to be recognized. The role of the state
and bureaucracy in its miraculous economic development during the 1960s – 1980s
in
The essential feature of the
developmental state and industrial policy is
that the state acts as an entrepreneur, targeting
national strategic industries and nurturing them. The light industry of the
1960s, heavy industry in 1970s and 1980s and the restructuring of industry to
electronics in the late 1980s were the winners in Korean economic development
processes. Once targeted, R&D,
financing, and marketing also benefited from government involvement. While it
is not identical to the previous role of the developmental state in the miracle
of
It was a different kind of
crisis that [has driven drove] government into another stage of economic
system. Chronic economic poverty since the Yi dynasty in 1392 drove
The Korean government, barely surviving by means of an infusion from the IMF’s crisis managing fund, took this crisis as an opportunity to restructure heavy reliance on second industry (especially corporate restructuring)[6], to deregulate[7] customary practices of heavy government intervention in the market, to privatize public corporations[8], and to liberalize the market[9].
In order to stimulate economic recovery, Kim Dae Jung’s government specifically focused on IT industry, providing tax incentives and liberal environments especially to foreign companies and foreign direct investment. After the financial crisis in 1997, the Korean government initiated various incentives for foreign high-tech companies: tax reduction for high-tech businesses, especially ones in foreign investment zones and service businesses in assistance of advanced industries (national tax for 10 years, local tax for 15 years); a rent reduction policy in industrial complexes for foreign companies (Kwang-ju, Chon-an), 25 national industrial complexes, and foreign investment zones (100% of reduction for high-tech businesses and 75% of reduction for general manufacturing industries). M&A activities (hostile takeovers) were also allowed in May 1998. Table ??? clearly shows the relative importance of IT industry in foreign direct investment in the Korean economy. In 1997, FDI in Korean IT industry stood at 0.4 billion US dollars. ????
[Table 7] Foreign Direct Investment (unit: USD billion)
|
Category |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001. 1/4 |
|
IT sector |
0.4 |
2.0 |
2.3 |
2.7 |
3.3 |
|
IT share of total
economy(%) |
5.4 |
22.8 |
14.8 |
17.5 |
72.6 |
|
Equipment |
0.2 |
1.4 |
1.1 |
1.9 |
0.1 |
|
Service |
0.2 |
0.6 |
1.0 |