Individual experience and global issues in a planetary society

This paper examines the main features of the emerging global information society and tries to understand the place of the individual within it. The issue of identity is addressed in its deep, ambivalent dimensions and the question of whether present-day society can still be analysed within the conceptual legacy of modernity is discussed. While new forms of power and domination emerge, the nature of conflicts is changing as well. In this framework social knowledge plays a central role and social scientists are asked to take on new responsibilities.