Manuel Castells is University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles. He is Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School of Communication, and holds joint appointments as Professor of Sociology in the USC Sociology Department, Professor of Planning in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and Professor of International Relations in the USC School of International Relations.
He is, as well, Research Professor at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona, and Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, where he was Professor of City and Regional Planning and Professor of Sociology from 1979 to 2003 before joining USC.
He was born in Spain in 1942 and grew up in Valencia and Barcelona. He studied law and economics at the Universities of Barcelona and Paris. He received a doctorate in sociology and a doctorate in human sciences from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. He moved to the United States in 1979.
Between 1967 and 1979 he was assistant professor, then associate professor of sociology at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences at the University of Paris. In 1979 he was appointed Professor of City and Regional Planning and Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. During his tenure at Berkeley he was chair of the Center for Western European Studies, a member of the Executive Committee of the Institute for International Studies, and a member of the Executive Committee of the College of Environmental Design. In 1988-93, while remaining on the Berkeley faculty, he was Professor and Director of the Institute for Sociology of New Technologies at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. He has also been a visiting professor at the Universities of Montreal, Catolica de Chile, FLACSO-Chile, Campinas-Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Metropolitana de Mexico, UNAM-Mexico, Central de Venezuela, Geneva, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Wisconsin-Madison, Boston, Southern California, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Hitotsubashi (Tokyo). He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2004-2009, and is currently Distinguished Visiting Professor of Technology and Society at Santa Clara University, and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Internet Studies at Oxford University. He has lectured in over 300 academic institutions in 46 countries.
He is the author of 22 academic books and editor or co-author of 21 additional books, as well as over 100 articles in academic journals. His trilogy "The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture" was published by Blackwell in 1996-98 in the first edition and in 2000-2003 in its second edition. It has been reprinted in English 18 times, and translated into Spanish (Spain and Mexico), French, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Chinese (in complex characters in Taipei, in simplified characters in Beijing), Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, Korean, Parsi, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Danish, Lithuanian, Turkish, Polish, and Catalan, and is in the process of translation in Japanese, Ukranian, and Arabic. His most recent books are "The Internet Galaxy" (Oxford University Press, 2001), which has now been translated in 16 languages; "The Information Society and the Welfare State: The Finnish Model" (Oxford University Press, 2002, with Pekka Himanen), translated in 7 languages; “The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective" (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2004, editor and co-author); "Globalizacion, Desarrollo y Democracia: Chile en el Contexto Mundial" (Santiago: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2005); “Mobile Communication and Society” (Cambridge: The M.I.T Press, 2006) (co-authored), translated in 4 languages; "La Transicion a la Sociedad red." (Barcelona: Ariel, 2007, co-authored); and “Communication Power” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Among other distinctions, he has received the Guggenheim Fellowship; the C. Wright Mills Award from the American Society for the Study of Social Problems; the Robert and Helen Lynd Award from the American Sociological Association for his lifelong contribution to community and urban sociology; the Kevin Lynch Award of Urban Design from M.I.T; the Medal of Urbanism from the City of Madrid; the Eric Schelling Prize of Architectural Theory from the Eric Schelling Foundation, Germany; the National Medal of Science from Catalonia; the Ithiel de Sola Pool Award from the American Political Science Association; the Godo Prize of Journalism, from the Foundation Count of Godo, Spain; the Life Long Research Award from the Committee on Computers and Information Technology of the American Sociological Association; the Compostela Award from the Compostela Association of Universities, and Spain’s National Prize of Sociology and Political Science.
He has received, as well, honorary doctorates from the Universities of Valencia, Queen's (Canada), Castilla-La Mancha, Twente (Netherlands), San Andres (La Paz), Sao Paulo (Medal of Honor), Higher School of Economics (Moscow), Helsinki University of Technology, University of Leuven (Belgium), City University of London, Universidad de Leon (Spain), East China Normal University (Shanghai), New School University (New York), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Lausanne), Universite du Quebec a Montreal, jointly with Tele-Universite du Quebec, University of Costa Rica and University of Seville.
He is a Fellow of the European Academy, a Fellow of the Spanish Royal Academy of Economics and Finance, and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).
He has served, or is serving, on the boards or advisory boards of 21 academic journals. He is currently the co-editor (with Larry Gross) of the International Journal of Communication.
He has served, or is serving, on the following boards and advisory councils:
High Level Expert Group on the Information Society of the European Commission; Advisory Council on Science and Technology, Government of Spain; Advisory Board of the Research Institute of the International Labor Office (ILO), United Nations; International Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation on the Problems of Socio-Political Transition (1992); Advisory Council of the United Nations Task Force on Information and Communication Technology; Advisory Board of the Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program; United Nations Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Global Civil Society and the United Nations; Advisory Council to the United Nations Secretary General on Information and Communication Technology and Global Development; Advisory Board of the International Association of Science Parks; Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University; International Advisory Council on Information Technology and Development of the President of South Africa; Advisory Council on the Information Society, Government of Spain; Asian Media Information and Communication Center (current); Advisory Council of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (current); Advisory Council of the Regional Dialogue on the Information Society in Latin America (current); Advisory Board of the Information Technology and Development Program of the Government of Chile (current).; Board of Trustees of the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles (current); Scientific Council of the European Research Council of the European Commission (founding member, 2005-2008); Governing Board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) (current).
He has been a pro-bono advisor to the governments of Chile, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, China, Brazil, Russia, Finland, and South Africa, as well as a consultant with US AID, the European Commission, the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, International Labor Office, and UNESCO.
He has been knighted for cause of scientific merit by the Governments of France (Order of Arts and Letters), Finland (Order of the Lion of Finland), Chile (Order of Gabriela Mistral), Portugal (Order of Santiago da Espada), and Catalonia (Cross of Saint George).
Editor's Note:
Additional information on, and assessment of, Manuel Castells' work can be found in the volumes recently published on his work and ideas, among which include Martin Ince. "Conversations with Manuel Castells," Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003 (translated in Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Parsi).
Learn moreFrank Webster and Basil Dimitriou, eds. "Manuel Castells," Sage Series on Masters of Modern Social Thought, London: Sage Publications, 2003, 3 volumes (contains selection of reviews and debates on Castells work published around the world in a 25 year span).
Learn moreIda Susser, ed. "The Castells Reader on Cities and Social Theory," Oxford: Blackwell, 2001.
Learn moreNico Cloete and Johan Muller, eds. "The Challenge of Development. South African Debates with Manuel Castells," Johannesburg: Longman, 2001.
Learn moreJochen Steinbicker. “Zur theorie der Informationgesellschaaft. Ein Vergleich der Ansatze von Peter Drucker, Daniel Bell und Manuel Castells,” Opladen: Leske+Budrich, 2001.
Learn moreFernando Calderon, ed. "Es sostenible la globalizacion en America Latina? Dialogos con Manuel Castells," Mexico; Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2003, 2 volumes.
Learn moreFelix Stalder. "Manuel Castells: The Theory of the Network Society," Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005.
Learn moreOystein LaBianca and Sandra Arnold Scham, eds. "Connectivity in Antiquity: Globalization as a Long Term Historical Process," London: Equinox Publishing, 2005.
Learn moreMayte Pascual. “En que mundo vivimos. Conversaciones con Manuel Castells”, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2006.
Geraldine Pfiegler. “De la ville aux reseaux. Dialogue avec Manuel Castells”, Lausanne: Les Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes, 2006.
David Bell. "Cyberculture Theorists: Manuel Castells and Donna Haraway." Oxford: Routledge, 2006.
Most recent publications
“Communication Power.” Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
“Mobile Communication and Society.” Cambridge, MA: The M.I.T. Press, 2006 (co-author with Mireia Fernandez-Ardevol, Jack Linchuan Qiu and Araba Sey).
Learn more“The Network Society: From Knowledge to Policy,” Washington D.C: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006 (co-editor).
Learn more"The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective," Northampton, Massachussets, 2004 (editor and co-author).
Learn more"Globalizacion, desarrollo y democracia: Chile en el contexto mundial," Santiago de Chile: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2005.
Learn moreManuel Castells Curriculum Vitae 2009
Curriculum Vitae Manuel Castells ranking of citations in the Social Science Scholars Index
Ranking of Manuel Castells in the Social Science Citation Index relative to a pool of selected leading scholars in social sciences, 2000–2009
See the social science ranking (PDF)
Ranking of Manuel Castells in the Social Science Citation Index relative to a pool of selected leading scholars in communication, 2000–2009
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Manuel Castells Research at the Annenberg School for Communication
Annenberg Networks Network Annenberg Research Network on International Communication
USC Center on Public Diplomacy
Norman Lear Center
Annenberg Research Network on Globalization & Communication
Manuel Castells Recent Writing
“The Structure and Dynamics of Global Multi-Media Business Networks”. International Journal of Communication Vol 2, 2008. p 707-748. (with Amelia Arsenault)
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“Switching Power: Rupert Murdoch and the Global Business of Media Politics: A Sociological Analysis”
International Sociology, Jul 2008; vol. 23: pp. 488 - 513. (with Amelia Arsenault)
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“The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Society, Communication Networks, and Global Governance.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 616, No. 1, 78-93 (2008)
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“Communication, Power and Counterpower in the Network Society.” International Journal of Communication. Vol. 1. 2007. pp 238-266.
Read the article“Conquering the minds, conquering Iraq: the social production of misinformation in the United States – a case study,” in Information, Communication & Society, volume 9, number 3,
June 2006, pages 284-308 (with Amelia Arsenault).
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"Informationalism, Networks, and the Network Society: A Theoretical Blueprint"
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Recent Interviews of Manuel Castells
Terhi Rantanen "The message is the medium: An interview with Manuel Castells," Global Media and Communication, Volume 1(2): 135-147, 2005
Read the interview (PDF)
Selected Reviews of Manuel Castells WorkScott Lash. "Hit the right buttons to reach new spaces," in
Times Higher Education Supplement, April 2007.
Read the review Felix Stalder. "The Network Paradigm: Social Formations in the Age of Information.”
Read the review
Simon Marginson. “Bright Networks and Dark Spaces” in Academe. Journal of the American Association of University Professors, May/June 2004.
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Selection of Excerpts of Reviews of the trilogy The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture.
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Syllabi of Manuel Castells Courses, Spring 2009
COMM 559: Globalization, Communication and Society (PDF)
COMM 647: Seminar on the Network Society (PDF)