In this paper I will examine the ways that power operates and resistance might be
possible under political, social, and cultural conditions which are increasingly
manufactured and mediated by information technologies. More specifically, I will
focus on how the work of Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard might be used to
better understand the political problems and potentialities of
informationalization. Some of the questions I address here are: What exactly are
we speaking of when we call this the "information age?" Has it replaced or merely
subsumed the older, industrialized era? What are some of the effects of
informationalization on the subject, knowledge, and "reality?" Can Foucault's
analytics of power (which describes the birth of the modern era) be extended to
the problematic of informational society? Can Baudrillard's acidic descriptions of
informationalized consumerism be used for progressive political projects? Finally,
I will discuss what the role of the intellectual might be in informationalization. By
examining the conditions of informationalization, I hope that we can better
understand the theoretical and political implications of Foucault's and
Baudrillard's work.
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