Back to the future : the networked household in the global economy

Abstract

Developed nations have promoted a modernist view of the nuclear family functioning in spatially separate public and private spheres of production and consumption. However, in these countries, the coalescence of communications and information technologies has given rise to ‘office automation' and ‘business process re-engineering’ which have destablilised employment. These technologies have also problematised the concept of organisational boundaries by enabling networked alternatives to conventional forms, and have challenged established relationships between size and performance. Currently emergent technologies are allowing small homebased businesses to confront much larger competitors beyond their immediate vicinity, while the same technologies are allowing the state to relocate functions such as hospital care and confinement to the home. Economic globalisation is opening communities in both ‘under' and ‘over' developed economies to direct competition from across national and cultural boundaries and making access to appropriate information and communication technologies as significant as physical location. Show more