THE ENVIRONMENT IN AN INFORMATION-SOCIETY - A TRANSITION STAGE TOWARDS MORE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Social scientists and futurists have suggested that societal developme nt is advancing to a novel stage, to an 'information society', However , the crucial qualifiers of this 'new' society are ambiguous, Furtherm ore, environmental goals have created new challenges for information s ociety studies, This paper examines the interaction and dynamics betwe en the information society and sustainable development, which most oft en manifest themselves as competing scientific and socio-political dis courses. On the one hand, there is the potential for reducing the stre ss on the environment: the emergence of information technologies and s ervices can lead to a dematerialisation of production and immaterialis ation of consumption, On the other hand, there are risks: positive env ironmental effects might be overcome by the 'rebound effect' caused by excessive economic growth. It is concluded that further theoretical a nd empirical studies are needed in order to examine the complex and co ntradictory relationship between the information society and environme ntal issues. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.