Netocracy by Elizabeth Bard

A provocative analysis of how power in the information age shifts from industrial capitalists to a new elite who control networks, information flows, and cultural capital; this group—adept at managing connections, attention, and reputation—shapes tastes, innovation, and mobility while a passive consumer class becomes increasingly marginalized. The authors argue this emerging stratification reorganizes labor, politics, and daily life around access to and mastery of networks, with wide implications for inequality, governance, and social cohesion.