ABSTRACT
In this chapter I want to assess this idea, that at least in parts of Britain there is a sea change taking place in the dominant economic, social and political structures. Once upon a time these could have been described as ‘industrial’ but they have now been transformed. It is argued that there has been a qualitative change so that some parts of Britain are now to be described as no longer industrial but as ‘post-industrial’. I shall be concerned to analyse what is meant by the idea of a society whose structures and typical modes of experience are no longer based on manufacturing industry as providing the central motor, its inner dynamism.
