The Fifth Estate: The Power Shift of the Digital Age

In the eighteenth century, the printing press enabled the rise of an independent press—the Fourth Estate—that helped check the power of governments, business, and industry. In similar ways, the internet is forming a more independent collectivity of networked individuals, which William H. Dutton identifies as the Fifth Estate. Their network power is contributing to a more pluralist role of individuals in democratic political processes and society, which is not only shaping political accounta...