DOI: https://doi.org/10.36719/2789-6919/64/32-40
Informatization as a Driver of Social Acceleration:
A Conceptual Analysis with Reference to Uzbekistan
Azizkhon Rasulov 
Abstract. This article examines informatization as a mechanism of social acceleration and evaluates its implications for contemporary social development, with particular reference to Uzbekistan. The study asks how digital infrastructures alter the speed of communication, knowledge production, institutional decision making, and everyday activity, and why time-saving technologies may simultaneously intensify time pressure. A qualitative conceptual design combines comparative analysis of theories of the network society, social acceleration, the infosphere, and digital inequality with document analysis of Uzbekistan’s Digital Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy and recent international policy reports. The analysis identifies four linked mechanisms: compression of communication time, reconfiguration of social space, shortening of knowledge and innovation cycles, and acceleration of institutional services. These mechanisms expand access to information and reduce transaction time, but their benefits remain conditional on digital skills, reliable infrastructure, critical media literacy, and equal opportunities to use digital services. The Uzbek case shows that faster public services and wider digital access should be evaluated through social outcomes rather than technical speed alone. The article concludes that sustainable digital transformation requires a balance between efficiency and human capacity. Policy should therefore combine infrastructure investment with inclusive access, lifelong learning, information integrity, and transparent evaluation of whether digital systems reduce burdens for citizens.
Keywords: social acceleration, informatization, information society, digital transformation, temporal change, digital inequality, Uzbekistan