CONCEPT
Switches and Switch-Controllers
Castells's term for the strategic points at which networks connect — and the actors who control them, whose decisions shape what flows through the network.
In Castells's framework, power in the network society belongs to those who control the switches — the points at which networks connect and the protocols that govern what flows through them. Switches are not merely technical infrastructure; they are chokepoints where decisions about access, pricing, terms of service, and permissible use structure the behavior of everyone dependent on the network. In the AI economy, the companies that build and deploy foundation models control the most important switches in the emerging creative economy. They determine who has access, at what cost, under what conditions, and subject to what limitations. The democratization narrative surrounding AI obscures this structural reality: capability flows to many, but control of the switches concentrates with few. Genuine democratization requires not just access to the network's capabilities but participation in the governance of the network's architecture.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Castells distinguishes between two forms of network power: networking power (the capacity to include or exclude nodes from the network) and network-making