摘要：This paper analyses the Portuguese society in its transition to the network society. Through the use of the Internet and its main drives (education and age) we discuss the inevitability, or not, of a generational gap in the Portuguese society, visible through strong differentiations in the social structure and practice. It is here suggested that the transition for the network society in Portugal may, eventually, be measured according to five individualised dimensions and the role played by Internet use in them: individual improvement, individual empowerment, individual consumption, network selectiveness and identity construction. These five dimensions are here discussed through empirical analysis of data gathered in a country wide survey representative of the Portuguese population involving 2450 individuals’ in 2003.
关键词：Informational Society;Social Change;Internet;Transition to the Network Society;Portugal
