ABSTRACT
The idea that we are moving towards an information society took root in the USA in the 1960s, in the context of rising prosperity, the automation of the workplace, an age of economic plenty and an assumption that the demise of repetitive, unsatisfying work was imminent. Daniel Bell, writing on The Coming of Post-Industrial Society in 1973 identified three stages of economic progress: the pre-industrial (dominated by agriculture), the industrial (dominated by manufacturing) and the post industrial (dominated by the service sector). Bell suggests that there is a historical progression through the three, with advanced Western economies then entering the third stage. Bell contrasts key elements of each of these stages in Table 23.1
|
Mode of production |
Preindustrial extractive |
Industrial-Fabrication |
Postindustrial-Processing; recycling |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Economic sector |
Primary Agriculture Mining Fishing Timber Oil and gas |
Secondary Goods-producing Manufacturing Durables Nondurables Heavy construction |
Tertiary Transportation Utilities |
Quaternary Trade Finance Insurance Real estate |
Quinary Health Education Research Government Recreation |
|
Transforming resource |
Natural power Wind, water, draught animal, human muscle |
Created energy Electricity - oil, gas, coal, nuclear power |
Information Computer and data transmission systems |
||
|
Strategic resource |
Raw materials |
Financial capital |
Knowledge |
||
|
Technology |
Craft |
Machine technology |
Intellectual technology |
||
|
Skill base |
Artisan, manual worker, farmer |
Engineer, semiskilled worker |
Scientist, technical and professional occupations |
||
|
Methodology |
Common sense trial and error; experience |
Empiricism, experimentation |
Abstract theory, models, simulations, decision theory, systems analysis |
||
|
Time perspective |
Orientation to the past |
Ad hoc adaptiveness, experimentation |
Future orientation; forecasting and planning |
||
|
Design |
Game against nature |
Game against fabricated nature |
Game between persons |
||
|
Axial principle |
Traditionalism |
Economic growth |
Codification of theoretical knowledge |
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