Technological Citizenship: Perspectives in the Recent Work of Manuel Castells and Paul Virilio

Abstract

This article draws out the different models of technological citizenship that are available in the writing of Castells and Virilio. Particular attention is paid to the importance of local ecological struggles against the imperatives of technological capitalism. However both Castells and Virilio contain strengths and weaknesses in this respect. Whereas Castells emphasises the contested nature of modernity, Virilio emphasis the dominance of technological reason over the life-world. Further both agree that the defence of local space has a key role to play in the construction of alternative citizenships. In contrast I argue that there can be no local solutions to global problems. Here I look at a number of cosmopolitan perspectives and argue that the claims of justice, sustainability and democracy requires new global institutions. However the blind spot in the cosmopolitan argument remains a top down approach to politics and imperviousness as to how to link radical politics to the contours of everyday life.