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The document discusses postindustrial society and defines it as a society marked by a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy. This transition is connected to societal restructuring and is most evident in early industrialized countries. American sociologist Daniel Bell first coined the term in 1973 and described key characteristics of postindustrial societies including a shift to services, replacement of blue-collar workers with technical/professional workers, greater emphasis on theoretical knowledge, and stronger universities producing graduates to develop new technologies. The document also discusses effects on communities and relationships between manufacturing and outsourcing in postindustrial societies.

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92 views2 pages

Group 1

The document discusses postindustrial society and defines it as a society marked by a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy. This transition is connected to societal restructuring and is most evident in early industrialized countries. American sociologist Daniel Bell first coined the term in 1973 and described key characteristics of postindustrial societies including a shift to services, replacement of blue-collar workers with technical/professional workers, greater emphasis on theoretical knowledge, and stronger universities producing graduates to develop new technologies. The document also discusses effects on communities and relationships between manufacturing and outsourcing in postindustrial societies.

Uploaded by

jane sevilla
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Postindustrial society

Postindustrial society, society marked by a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-


based economy, a transition that is also connected with subsequent societal restructuring. Post industrialization is the
next evolutionary step from an industrialized society and is most evident in countries and regions that were among
the first to experience the Industrial Revolution, such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan.

American sociologist Daniel Bell first coined the term postindustrial in 1973 in his book The Coming of Post-
Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting, which describes several features of a postindustrial society.
Postindustrial societies are characterized by:

1. A transition from the production of goods to the production of services, with very few firms directly
manufacturing any goods.
2. The replacement of blue-collar manual labourers with technical and professional workers—such as
computer engineers, doctors, and bankers—as the direct production of goods is moved elsewhere.
3. The replacement of practical knowledge with theoretical knowledge.
4. Greater attention being paid to the theoretical and ethical implications of new technologies, which helps
society avoid some of the negative features of introducing new technologies, such as environmental
accidents and massive widespread power outages.
5. The development of newer scientific disciplines—such as those that involve new forms of information
technology, cybernetics, or artificial intelligence—to assess the theoretical and ethical implications of new
technologies.
6. A stronger emphasis on the university and polytechnic institutes, which produce graduates who create and
guide the new technologies crucial to a postindustrial society.

In addition to the economic characteristics of a postindustrial society, changing values and norms reflect the
changing influences on the society. Outsourcing of manufactured goods, for example, changes how members of
a society see and treat foreigners or immigrants. Also, those individuals previously occupied in the
manufacturing sector find themselves with no clearly defined social role.

There are a number of direct effects of post industrialism on the community. For the first time, the term
community is associated less with geographical proximity and more with scattered, but like-minded, individuals.
Advances in telecommunications and the Internet mean that telecommuting becomes more common, placing people
farther away from their place of work and their coworkers.

The relationship between manufacturing and services changes in a postindustrial society. Moving to a service-
based economy means that manufacturing must occur elsewhere and is often outsourced (that is, sent away from a
company to a contracted supplier) to industrial economies. While this gives the illusion that the postindustrial
society is merely service-based, it is still highly connected with those industrial economies to which the
manufacturing is outsourced.
Kondratieff Cycles
There is no uniform progression in market economy; in fact, upturns and downturns regularly take turns with each
other. The short business cycles that last approximately three years are called Kitchin cycles; the medium-term ones
lasting between 7 to 11 years are called Juglar cycles. However, there are also long economic cycles that last
between 40 to 60 years. They are named Kondratieff cycles after their discoverer Nikolai Kondra tieff. The triggers
for these long waves are groundbreaking inventions that are called basic innovations below.

The Previous Kondratieff Cycles

Economists have empirically proven five Kondratieff cycles since the late 18th century (Illustration 1). The first
long cycle was triggered by the invention of the steam engine and fundamental innovations in textile manufacturing
(the fly-shuttle loom, the spinning mule, the spinning jenny). The railroad and the Bessemer converter led the
economy to the second Kondratieff. It was the great era of big steel.

The third Kondratieff was the first long cycle that was carried by the practical application of scientific knowledge.
The discovery of the electro-dynamic principle by Werner von Siemens enabled the conversion of mechanical
energy into electrical energy, and the findings on the composition of matter through quantum physics imparted the
knowledge of manipulating material – the foundation of modern chemistry.

The third Kondratieff ended with the global economic crisis of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The new upswing, the
fourth Kondratieff, came with the automobile and petro chemistry. It marked the height of the industrial society and
brought mass transit to the streets and to the air. The fourth Kondratieff drew to a close with the massive crude oil
price increases by OPEC in the late 1970s.

The fifth Kondratieff began in the early 1950s. It’s driving force originated in computer-based information
technology. With constantly increasing speed, information technology permeated all areas of society and turned the
world into a global village of information. During the fifth Kondratieff, the industrial society changed over into an
information society. Since then, economic growth is primarily defined as growth in the information sector.

The fifth Kondratieff ended at the turn of this century. At the same time it ended, the sixth Kondratieff cycle began.
The carrier of this new Kondratieff cycle will be health in a holistic sense.

The Sixth Kondratieff

At first glance, this statement may come as a surprise. Can health expenditures, which are economically classified as
pure expenses and as something negative that should thus be avoided if possible, take on the role of a locomotive for
growth and employment in the future?

At this point, we should recall the results of modern growth theory. Machinery, capital or jobs are only ostensibly
the most important sources for economic growth. The main source for economy growth is productivity progress. The
sixth Kondratieff is carried by an improved productivity in handling health (a more detailed description of the sixth
Kondratieff can be found on this homepage).

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