ABSTRACT
There is much contemporary interest in the notion of a "post-industrial" society, that is, a society which no longer places most of its emphasis on industrial production. What may be considered to have replaced that emphasis depends very much on individual points of view, prejudices, and, in some cases, polemics. The debate, however, is premature, since the shape of things to come is still too indefinite to permit confident forecasts. Nevertheless, there has been a definite shift in Western society from industrial production to service activities during the last twenty-five years or so, sufficient to stimulate conjecture as to the final form of the transition.
