The DOI matches its Crossref record; its reference list is not available.
The Poverty of Networks: The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007, pp. 515, ISBN 0 300 12577 1, pbk £11.99 Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software by Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter New York: Routledge, 2008, pp. 232, ISBN 0 415 97893 4, hbk £60.00 The Exploit: A Theory of Networks by Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2007, pp. 256, ISBN 0 816 65044 6, pbk £12.00
Abstract
The use of networks as an explanatory framework is widespread in the literature that surrounds technology and information society. The three books reviewed here — The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler, Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software by Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter, and The Exploit: A Theory of Networks by Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker — all make a claim to the novelty that networks provide to their subject matter. By looking closely at the way in which the network is utilized in each of the texts, this review attempts to question the extent to which a network analysis can ground a claim about a discontinuity in technology, society or economics.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“The idea of the decentred network remains only ' a spatial diagram which provides topological information about the nodes that are connected with it ' (Berry, 2008, p 371).”
From In Digital We Trust: Bitcoin Discourse, Digital Currencies, and Decentralized Network Fetishism (2018) · cites this paper as Berry, 2008
In the citing paper
“These models are simpli fi cations of the world: ' The network is not ontological it is analytical, and as such it is restricted in how much it can tell us and how useful it can be ' (Berry, 2008, p 365).”
From In Digital We Trust: Bitcoin Discourse, Digital Currencies, and Decentralized Network Fetishism (2018) · cites this paper as Berry, 2008
In the citing paper
“A new form of social organisation is developing in relation to the network and networks are celebrated as being ' decentred, limitless and often, it is claimed, non-hierarchical and structureless forms or fl uid organizations ' (Berry, 2008, p 365).”
From In Digital We Trust: Bitcoin Discourse, Digital Currencies, and Decentralized Network Fetishism (2018) · cites this paper as Berry, 2008
In the citing paper
“Crucially, ' it fl attens reality and removes the distinctions between different nodes ' (Berry, 2008, p 371).”
From In Digital We Trust: Bitcoin Discourse, Digital Currencies, and Decentralized Network Fetishism (2018) · cites this paper as Berry, 2008
In the citing paper
“This means that in a network ' an individual programmer and a multinational corporation become equal as connected nodes in the network ' (Berry, 2008, p 371).”
From In Digital We Trust: Bitcoin Discourse, Digital Currencies, and Decentralized Network Fetishism (2018) · cites this paper as Berry, 2008
2 more claims about this paper
Create a free account to see every claim other papers make about this one.
Citations
No citation lists for this paper
No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.
References 12 · Cited by 53
Research works printed but not linked: 11
- Castells, M., 2000, The Rise of the Network Society
- Deleuze, G., 2003, A Thousand Plateaus
- Galloway, A., 2006, Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization
- Kittler, F., 1997, Literature, Media, Information Systems
- Latour, B., 2005, Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory, 10.1093/oso/9780199256044.001.0001 · DOI · Paper page
- Levine, R., 2001, The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
- Lippman, W., 1997, Public Opinion
- MacKenzie, D., 1999, The Social Shaping of Technology
- Moretti, F., 2007, Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for Literary History
- Wellman, B., 2003, `The Social Affordances of the
- Internet for Networked Individualism', Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 8(3), URL (consulted April 2008): http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol8/issue3/wellman.html
Metadata
- Authors
- Berry, D. M.
- Affiliations
- Swansea University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Berry, David M.
- ORCID
- Berry, David M.
- Venue
- Theory, Culture & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-12
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 7-8
- Pages
- 364-372
- ISSN
- 0263-2764 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-3616
- OpenAlex
- W109129459
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 12 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 12.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Theory Culture & Society (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › Information Society and Technology Trends
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Contemporary Social and Educational Issues
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
- Keywords
- network theory, information society, free and open source software, Yochai Benkler, Alexander Galloway, Eugene Thacker, technology and society
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The Poverty of Networks: The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007, pp. 515, ISBN 0 300 12577 1, pbk £11.99 Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software by Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter New York: Routledge, 2008, pp. 232, ISBN 0 415 97893 4, hbk £60.00 The Exploit: A Theory of Networks by Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2007, pp. 256, ISBN 0 816 65044 6, pbk £12.00. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/0263276408097813
- The paper
- Berry, D. M. (2008). The Poverty of Networks: The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007, pp. 515, ISBN 0 300 12577 1, pbk £11.99 Decoding Liberation: The Promise of Free and Open Source Software by Samir Chopra and Scott Dexter New York: Routledge, 2008, pp. 232, ISBN 0 415 97893 4, hbk £60.00 The Exploit: A Theory of Networks by Alexander Galloway and Eugene Thacker Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2007, pp. 256, ISBN 0 816 65044 6, pbk £12.00. Theory, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276408097813
