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The occupational conception of the Information Society is the theory most favoured by sociologists (Webster, 2004, p.13). It concerns the growing number of workers whose jobs revolve around information, its dealings and its transactions. Increasingly, only a shrinking minority of workers are employed in manual manufacturing and physical labour. Instead, the employment market is dominated by information controllers who posess the information needed to effectively operate the means of production (Stonier, 1983, p.7). This is demonstrated by research conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which reported "continued growth... in those occupations primarily concerned with the creation and handling of information and with its infrastructure support" (Webster, 1995, p.14). The occupational conception emphasizes the transformative power of information itself, rather than the influence of information technologies (Webster, 1995, p.17).
The general method used to measure the extent of the information society's occupational dynamics seeks to count and track the changing industrial distribution of jobs (Mackay, 2001, p.90). This method is, however, considered problematic and flawed, as many occupations overlap industries or defy categorization (Webster, 1995, p.14).
The new class of workers occupying informational jobs have been conceptualized in myriad ways. Indeed, the rise in influence and members of this class, and the growing impact of their industrial pursuits, has been suggested by some academics as heralding a major transformation of our social order (Mulgan, 1991, p.57). Alvin Goudler was one of the first sociologists to conceptualise these employees (Webster, 1995, p.17). He identified them as a "new class... composed of intellectuals and technical intelligensia" who had the power to contest established modes of authority (Gouldner, 1979, p.153). Prominent post-industrialist academic Daniel Bell envisaged them as "white collar workers", an emerging class separate to the blue collar workers of old (Bell, 1979, p.128).
Florida (2002) also conceptualizes the workers of the creative economy. He constructs those whose jobs deal with information and creativity as belonging to a new "creative class" (Florida, 2002, p.8). This creative class is suggested to be increasingly asserting itself and being of substantial economic and social influence.
Discussion of the occupational dynamics of the information society gives rise to the 'deskilling' debate. Deskilling concerns the relative power of management and workers in the control of work in the information society (Mackay, 2001, p.88). The debate centres around the issue of whether the emergence and uptake of new media technologies in the workplace has altered skill requirements and changed worker's control of the labour process.
Barney, D. (2004) The Network Society, Great Britain: Polity Press. ISBN 0745626688
Florida, R. (2002) The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life, New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0465024777
Mackay, H. (2001) Investigating the Information Society, New York: Routeledge. ISBN 041526832
Mulgan, G. (1998) Connexity: Responsibility, Freedom, Business and Power in the New Century, London: Vintage. ISBN 009959451
Stonier, T. (1983) The Wealth of Information,. London: Thames Methuen. ISBN 0423008005
Webster, F. (1995) The Information Society Reader, London: Routeledge. ISBN 0415319285
--Jessica Larsen 20:24, 10 Oct 2005 (EST)
