ABSTRACT
When is it correct to speak of industrial society? And when to speak of capitalism? While they are closely linked, these two terms are by no means synonyms. In effect, the capitalist process is the basis of the industrialization process, since historically it is the capitalist societies which were also the first to industrialize. The rallying-cry ‘catch up with the capitalist societies’, so often proclaimed by the leaders of socialist societies, also suggests that capitalist organization possesses something in common with all industrial societies, and thus with socialist societies as well. These characteristics have to do with the high level of productivity (and the conditions which are connected with it, notably the relation between labour and fixed capital among the factors of production), and the close link between science, technology, and production. They also include phenomena such as mass consumption, the ‘standardization’ of products and of the needs which they are designed to fulfil. These characteristics are not independent: capitalism is a ‘system’. Complex relationships exist among technology, production, productivity, the size and distribution of incomes among the different categories of the population, and the scale and nature of public and private consumption.
