Internet and Change

An Ethnography of Knowledge and Flexible Work

In the lively debate over how Internet creates social and cultural change, the concept of change itself has not been well understood. Through an ethnographic exploration of telework and fine-grained descriptions of the material experience of Internet use, this book makes an important contribution to the theory of cultural change and the social analysis of technology. Kjaerulff argues that telework is mostly practiced informally, and that this form of flexible work is more prevalent than commonly assumed. Against conventional assertions that flexible work promotes alienation, he shows that the picture is far more complex and that the cultural conception ofwork changes through new practices of economic behavior.