This article analyzes the works of the largest researcher of the information age and the new economy, M. Kastels. Considered are the scientist’s theses about the nature of informational society in which the generation, processing and transmission of information are sources of productivity and power; about the network nature of the post-industrial society and on the functioning of an effective network formof economic organization. The author considers the following - fundamental importance of distinguishing between the global and world economy, the formation theory of a new social space, a new temporality, the determining role of the innovation environment in the system of technological innovation systems - to be a doubtless major theoretical achievement of M. Kastels. In the article a lot of attention is devotedto the analysis by M. Kastels of system and the driving forces of the new, digital economy, the role of the Internet, the key role of “self-programming workforce”, as well as an acute social conflict between the “the Internet haves” and “the Internet have-nots” and the Digital Divide, leading to the marginalization of a large part of the world’s population. The author believes that the conceptual understanding of the diversity of models of contemporary social and cultural development (especially for the working out of the Russian development model) has a great importance to the consideration of the contents of the paper by M. Kastels and P. Himanen, dedicated to the Finnish model of the information society, the fundamental components of which are a combination of the active role of the state and deregulation, inclusion of all people into that society, a strong cultural identity and national feelings.