ABSTRACT
Fourastié, writing in 1949, heralded the transition from the industrial to the service society as the great hope of the twentieth century. After a long period of economic crisis and social conflict, the advent of the service society would, he argued, usher in a period of economic, social and political stability. The ‘hunger for services’ was insatiable, so that all workers who lost their jobs as a result of structural change would find new and possibly even better employment. For many other observers as well, services were the better activities. They came to be associated with more pleasant working and employment conditions, such as higher pay, a clean work environment, fewer stresses and strains, greater opportunities for employee participation or higher qualification and skill requirements. Furthermore, they were said to offer women better employment opportunities and to be ‘intended to produce benefit or well-being for the recipient, either affectively or cognitively’ (Gartner and Riessman 1974:33). Daniel Bell (1973:15) made a distinction between conventional services, such as retailing, transport and banking and finance, and post-industrial services, such as health, education and research. He predicted that the latter would grow particularly strongly, and with them the qualifications and skills of the new technical elites.
