The Challenge of Social Networks

Abstract

Research and theory focused on the contemporary development of social networks appears not to appreciate that this phenomenon may mark a new stage in the ongoing development of human consciousness. Given this, it seems that an entirely new paradigm is required if social networks are to be understood and the questions they raise for public administration theory and practice are to be articulated and addressed. A review of one possible history of the evolution of the human mind supports the idea that consciousness is at a point of fundamental change. The current form of social organization (modernism) and the style of analysis it produced for considering the social world (one that sees human behavior as constituted of rational responses to social role requirements and economic constraints) is over. The rise of social networks signifies this development and reveals that human beings are becoming oriented toward social life in a generically different manner. Consequently, public administration, as theory and as professional practice, faces new questions about its proper role in democratic government.

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