ABSTRACT
The major sociological theories of the service or ‘post-industrial’ society were developed more than two decades ago (Bell 1976; Touraine 1969). These theories were formulated in a period when the present knowledge and information society was in its embryonic phase. Daniel Bell (1976), who has most coherently formulated a theory on the development towards a post-industrial society, combines three important trends to describe the development of this society. First, the impetus behind growth and productivity is to increase knowledge in all kinds of economic activities through the information process. Second, a shift in economic activities from goods production to service production occurs in all industrial societies. Third, a restructuring of the occupational structure is characterised by a development from manual to non-manual professional jobs requiring a large amount of scientific knowledge and information. Knowledge and technology have become even more important in determining economic and social structures. However, this theory and similar theories of the development of post-industrial service societies have been questioned by social scientists (see Chapter 1 in this volume).
