Transformation of social structure in the neo-information society

The article presents a sociological interpretation of the neo-information society as a special stage of social-cultural development based on a combination of methods: conceptualization, comparative analysis, secondary analysis of sociological and statistical (mediametric) data. The authors use a polyparadigmatic approach to critically rethink such interrelated categories as information society, network society, digital society, smart society, mobile society, electronic society and platform society, thus explaining the need for introducing the category of neo-information society into the social-humanitarian discourse. Since there are numerous attempts to make researchers accept the category of neo-information society (global information society, post-information society, information-communication society of knowledge, hybrid society), the authors explain vulnerabilities of such scientific studies and propose a definition for the concept of neo-information society. The article describes the main features of the neo-information society and social-communication relations in this type of society as predetermined by the collaborative interaction of three main groups of agents — traditional media producers, traditional media consumers and interested actors. Based on the results of the conducted research, the authors argue that the polyparadigmatic study of the neo-information society allows, on the one hand, to identify the features of modernization of the media space in contemporary social-political, social-economic, social-technical and social-cultural realities, and, on the other hand, to explicate the uniqueness of social-communication relations that influence the redefinition of social structure. © A.A. Yefanov, V.L. Muzykant, 2025.