POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY) This concept was first used by D. Bell in 1962. The idea of ​​a post-industrial society was later developed by him in his work “The Coming Post industrial society» (Bell, 1974) to describe the economic and social change at the end of the twentieth century. Bell argued that in modern societies, theoretical knowledge constitutes the "axial principle" of society and is the source of innovation and policy-making. The reflection of this in the economy is the decline in the production of goods as the main form of economic activity and replacing it with service production. In terms of class structure, the new axial principle prioritizes the professionals and technicians that make up the new class. In all areas - economic, political and social - new intellectual technologies and a new intellectual class have a decisive influence on decision-making. Other authors have also analyzed what they perceived as the growing power of technocrats in economic and political life. J.K. Galbraith (1967) argued that power in the economy of the United States, and therefore in the whole of American society, is in the hands of the technical bureaucracy or "technostructure" of large corporations. A. Touraine (Touraine, 1969) put forward a similar technocratic control over French economic and political life. These approaches have been criticized for exaggerating the power and importance of the new breed of professionals and technicians, because there is no evidence that they form a separate social class, effectively control business corporations, or wield significant political power. While it is true that theoretical knowledge has gradually become increasingly important as a productive force throughout the twentieth century, this does not imply a change in the distribution of power either in the economy or in society as a whole. Similar arguments have been made about the new professional managers in connection with the idea of ​​revolution managers. Subsequently, it was shown that these arguments have no serious grounds. Other authors have put forward the position that the central role of knowledge in modern economies led to the emergence of a new working class of technical employees. However, due to the interest in knowledge and information that is characteristic of the discussion about postmodernism, at present, D. Bell's predictions regarding the importance of knowledge in post-industrialism are much more recognized. See also: Information society.

Based on these changes, there is a rethinking of all the basic characteristics of an industrial society, a fundamental change in theoretical guidelines. Thus, a post-industrial society is defined as a "post-economic", "post-labor" society, i.e. a society in which the economic subsystem loses its defining significance, and labor ceases to be the basis of all social relations. A person in a post-industrial society is no longer considered as an "economic person" par excellence. New, "post-materialistic" values ​​become dominant for him. The first "phenomenon" of such a person is considered the youth riot of the late 60s, which meant the end of the Protestant work ethic as the moral basis of Western industrial civilization. The economic growth ceases to act as the main, especially the only guideline, goal of social development. The emphasis is shifting to social and humanitarian problems. The priority issues are the quality and safety of life, self-realization of the individual. New criteria for well-being and social well-being are being formed.

The post-industrial society is also defined as a "post-class" society, which reflects the collapse of sustainable social structures and identities characteristic of an industrial society. If before the status of an individual in society was determined by his place in economic structure, i.e. class belonging to which all other social characteristics were subordinated, now the status characteristic of an individual is determined by many factors, among which an increasing role is played by education, the level of culture (what P. Bourdieu called "cultural capital"). On this basis, D. Bell and a number of other Western sociologists put forward the idea of ​​a new "service" class. Its essence lies in the fact that in a post-industrial society, not the economic and political elite, but the intellectuals and professionals who make up the new class, have power. In reality, there was no fundamental change in the distribution of economic and political power. Claims about the "death of the class" also seem clearly exaggerated and premature. However, significant changes in the structure of society, associated primarily with a change in the role of knowledge and its carriers in society, are undoubtedly taking place (see. Information society).

Thus, we can agree with D. Bell's statement that "the changes that are fixed by the term post-industrial society may mean the historical metamorphosis of Western society."

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

(1800-1960) | Post-industrial (information) society(after 1960)

post-industrial society- this is a society in whose economy the priority has shifted from the predominant production of goods to the production of services, the dominant production resource is information and knowledge, scientific developments become the main driving force of the economy, the most valuable qualities are the level of education, professionalism, learning ability and creativity of the employee.

As a rule, post-industrial countries are those in which the service sector accounts for significantly more than half. Now, post-industrial countries include (services account for 80% of the United States, 2002), countries (services - 69.4% of GDP, 2004), (67.7% of GDP, 2001).

Close to the post-industrial theory are the concepts of the information society, post-economic society, the "third wave". Some believe that post-industrialism is only a prologue to the transition to the "post-human" phase of the development of earthly civilization.

The term "post-industrialism" was introduced into scientific circulation at the beginning by the scientist A. Kumaraswamy, who specialized in pre-industrial development Asian countries. IN modern meaning this term was first used in the late 1950s, and the concept of a post-industrial society gained wide recognition as a result of the work of Harvard University professor Daniel Bell, in particular, after the publication of his book “The Coming Post-Industrial Society” in 1999.

Post-industrial theory, in many ways, has been confirmed by practice. As predicted by its creators, the mass consumer society gave rise to a service economy, and within its framework, the information sector of the economy began to develop at the fastest pace.

Economy

In the post-industrial economy largest contribution the final component of production contributes to material wealth - that is, the service sector, as well as the information component in the form of patents, R&D, etc.

In addition, the production of information is playing an increasingly important role. This sector is more cost effective material production, since it is enough to make an initial sample, and the cost of copying is insignificant.

Features of the investment process

The industrial economy was based on the accumulation (in the form of savings of the population or through the activities of the state) and their subsequent investment in production capacities. In a post-industrial economy, capital accumulation falls sharply (for example, the volume of savings is less than the volume of debts of the population), while consumption increases. This trend is explained by the fact that the main production resource- the qualifications of people - it is impossible to increase through the growth of investment in production. This can only be achieved through increased investment in people and increased consumption - including the consumption of educational services, investment in human health, etc. In addition, the growth of consumption allows you to meet the basic needs of a person, as a result of which people have time for personal growth , the development of creative abilities, etc., that is, those qualities that are most important for the post-industrial economy.

The prevalence of knowledge over capital

In an industrial society, having capital, it was almost always possible to organize a massive one and occupy a corresponding niche in the market. In post-industrial sectors of the economy, capital cannot automatically provide the appearance necessary for economic success. Conversely, having know-how makes it easy to raise capital.

Strengthening the role of small business

The importance of mass production is decreasing, the role of small business is increasing, more and more small-scale goods are being produced with many modifications and service options in order to satisfy the needs of different consumer groups.

In a post-industrial society, a new type of investment business- venture. Its essence lies in the fact that many developments and promising projects are financed at the same time, and the super-profitability of a small number of successful projects covers the failure of the rest.

Technological changes

Technological progress in an industrial society was achieved mainly through the work of practical inventors, often without scientific training (for example). In the post-industrial society, the applied role of research, including fundamental research, is growing sharply. The main driver of technological change was the introduction of scientific achievements into production.

In a post-industrial society, science-intensive, resource-saving and information technologies are the most developed (“ high tech"). This, in particular, the production of materials with predetermined properties, etc. Informatization permeates all spheres of society: not only the production of goods and services, but also the household, as well as culture and art.

The theorists of the post-industrial society include the replacement of mechanical interactions with electronic technologies among the features of modern scientific and technological progress; miniaturization, penetrating into all spheres of production; change in biological organisms at the genetic level.

The main trend of change technological processes- an increase in automation, the replacement of unskilled labor with the work of machines and computers.

social structure

An important feature of post-industrial society is the strengthening of the role and importance of the human factor. The structure of labor resources is changing: the share of physical labor is decreasing and the share of highly qualified and creative mental labor is growing. Investments in people are increasing: spending on training and education, advanced training and retraining of workers.

According to the leading Russian specialist on the post-industrial society, about 70% of the entire economy is employed in the “knowledge economy”. work force in USA.

"professional class"

A number of researchers characterize the post-industrial society as a "society of professionals", where the main class is the "class of intellectuals", and the power belongs to the meritocracy - the intellectual elite. As the founder of post-industrialism, D. Bell, wrote, "post-industrial society ... presupposes the emergence of an intellectual class, whose representatives at the political level act as consultants, experts or technocrats." At the same time, the tendencies of “property stratification on the basis of education” are already clearly manifesting themselves.

Change in the status of wage labor

In a post-industrial society, the main "means of production" is the qualifications of employees. In this sense, the means of production belong to the worker himself, so the value of employees to the company increases dramatically. As a result, the relationship between the company and knowledge workers becomes more partnership, and dependence on the employer is sharply reduced. At the same time, corporations are moving from a centralized hierarchical to a hierarchical-network structure with an increase in the independence of employees.

Strengthening the importance of creativity and reducing the role of unskilled labor

According to some researchers (in particular, V. Inozemtsev), a post-industrial society is moving into a post-economic phase, since in the future it overcomes the dominance of the economy (production of material goods) over people and the development of human abilities becomes the main form of life activity. Already now in developed countries material motivation partially gives way to self-expression in activity.

On the other hand, the post-industrial economy is experiencing less and less need for unskilled labor, which creates difficulties for the population with a low educational level. For the first time in history, a situation arises when population growth (in its unskilled part) reduces, rather than increases, the economic power of the country.

Historical periodization

According to the concept of post-industrial society, the history of civilization is divided into three major eras: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial. In the transition from one stage to another, the new society does not supplant the previous forms, but makes them secondary.

The pre-industrial way of organizing society is based on

• labor intensive technologies
• use of human muscle power,
• skills that do not require long-term training,
• exploitation natural resources(particularly agricultural land).

The industrial method is based on

• machine production,
• capital intensive technologies
• use of extramuscular energy sources,
• qualifications that require long-term training.

The post-industrial method is based on

• science-intensive technologies,
• information and knowledge as the main production resource,
• creative aspect of human activity, continuous self-improvement and advanced training throughout life.

The basis of power in the pre-industrial era was the land and the number of dependent people, in the industrial era - capital and energy sources, in the post-industrial era - knowledge, technology and the qualifications of people.

The weakness of post-industrial theory is that it considers the transition from one stage to another as an objective (and even inevitable) process, but little analyzes the social conditions necessary for this, the accompanying contradictions, cultural factors, etc.

Post-industrial theory operates mainly with terms characteristic of sociology and economics. The corresponding "culturological analogue" was called the concept of postmodernism (according to which historical development goes from to the modern and further - to "postmodernity".

Place of post-industrial societies in the world

As a result of the relative decline in the importance of material production, the economies of post-industrial countries have become less dependent on supplies. For example, the unprecedented rise in prices for in 2004-2005. did not cause a crisis like the oil crises of the 1970s.

Over the past decades, the share of post-industrial and new industrial countries in world trade, investment, and innovation has increased, while the share of other countries has decreased. There is a closure of commodity, money, and most importantly information flows within the developed world (in the sense of reducing the specific share of flows falling on other countries).

According to V. Inozemtsev, “the post-industrial world is entering the 21st century as a completely autonomous social entity that controls the global production of technologies and complex high-tech goods, fully self-sufficient in industrial and agricultural products, relatively independent of the supply of energy and raw materials, and also self-sufficient in terms of trade and investment."

Bibliography

• D. Bell. The coming post-industrial society. M., Academy, 1999. ISBN 5-87444-070-4
• New post-industrial wave in the West. Anthology ed. V. Inozemtseva. M., Academy, 1999. ISBN 5-87444-067-4

Hello dear friends! The question of whether we are today in a post-industrial society is of concern to many living minds of our time. Asking this question, we did not notice that we had crossed the line of another type of social arrangement, which you will learn about from this article. It is also important to understand the reasons for the transition to a post-industrial society in order to understand whether it exists in Russia at all or does not exist?

So let's get started!

concept

Post-industrial society is briefly the level of development of society, in which automation of production is achieved, information becomes a commodity, and the service sector is larger than the sphere of production.

For the first time this concept was introduced in his speech by the outstanding American scientist and futurist Daniel Bell. He spoke at a scientific conference in Salzburg. He is also the author of the monumental futurological scientific work "The Coming Post-Industrial Society". Probably, Bell's prediction, described in this book, turned out to be the most truthful in the history of science. By the way, Daniel was born in 1919 and died in 2011 - rarely does a scientist manage to see his prediction come true ...

So, why did the transition to such a society happen and what are its signs?

The first reason for this transition- that people in the second half of the last century were able to overcome the centuries-old problem: hunger and mortality. Of course, this did not happen for all regions of the planet. But still countries and peoples in the world are starving. I do not mean Russia, of course, but the countries of the East and West: the USA, the EU, China, Japan, South Korea, etc. The technology in these countries has reached such a level that they are not in danger of starvation. Plus, medicine has achieved amazing results, as a result of which child mortality has actually been eliminated.

That is why the population of the Earth has grown in 100 years from one billion to six ...

The second reason follows from the first. Scientific technological revolution the second half of the last century allowed to bring society to a new level of development, in which production is robotized, and the share of the population employed there is declining. When the number of employees is greater than the number of people employed in production.

In such a society, the question comes to the fore not what to produce, but how to do it? Because of this, information and knowledge are becoming the leading resources for development. Who owns the information (how and what to produce) owns the world. Therefore, in such a society, patent law, copyright, etc. are so developed.

All these social experiments failed. Nazism is anti-human, therefore it was exterminated. Communism is a utopia, because if one is satisfied, a bunch of others arise. For example, people had what to eat and what to wear in the USSR, they wanted VCRs (“VIDs”), they wanted to watch Hollywood blockbusters, they wanted more freedoms - that’s why the Union collapsed.

That is, after 1991, after the collapse of the socialist system, an ideological vacuum arose. The United States filled this vacuum by offering its own model of liberal democracy. This model was supported by the countries of the former socialist camp. Here is what we have now.

signs

The signs of a post-industrial society include the following.

Automation and robotization of production. This is a very important sign, since it is on it that the satisfaction of the basic needs of society depends. As well as many secondary ones.

Development of knowledge and science. This indicator is also very important. What does the development of science and knowledge mean? This means, first of all, that the salary of a scientist allows him not to worry about material issues, fully paying attention to scientific issues. That is why everywhere in the world the salary of scientists is at the level of an average businessman. And here you can still think about whether it is worth going into business 🙂

IN driving in the developed, any scientific business trips are paid by the university. Moreover, I’m buying you a business class plane ticket so that you, while flying, think about a scientific article, or about scientific problems.

Direct connection between science and production. It is also an extremely important feature of the society in question. By the way, the bulk of scientific discoveries are made not at universities, as most people think, but at large ones, in which there are special scientific departments. It is these corporations that are moving science forward today.

Information becomes a commodity. Sold and bought information, information on a material carrier.

For example, I know educational system Russian Federation, I know how to enter a university on a budget without problems, I know exactly how any graduate should prepare for the Unified State Examination so that he gets at least 95 points in history or social studies. Accordingly, this knowledge was acquired by me over 9 years of work in the education of our country, tested on my students, and formalized in the form of a step-by-step system in a special training service . Cool? Yes! Anyone can use this information by paying for my work. Because we do not live in communism, but in a market economy, in which everything has its price and value (by the way, these are different concepts).

This example illustrates an effective post-industrial society, the knowledge economy.

Where is Russia?

The answer to this question is ambiguous. On the one hand, many features of such a society are present: informatization, mobilization (growth mobile communications), automation of a number of industries ... On the other hand, in many regions of the country, people simply have nothing to eat.

What kind of post-industrial society can we talk about? Our state, without building its own production, wants to jump to this level of development of society. Well, that won't work. We must first at least feed the population, provide affordable housing and clothing, and only then require them to work and work again. Caution, the video is harsh, but it is quite acceptable for persons over 16 years old.

For ethical reasons, you can watch the video directly on YouTube.Link=>>

Something like this.

Well, look at some new stage in the development of society after the post-industrial one in the video at the beginning of the post 🙂

Post Scriptum:

To download a video

post-industrial society (post-industrial society) is a stage in the development of society that began in the last quarter of the 20th century as a result of the scientific and technological revolution, characterized by the development of energy-saving technologies, the creation of high-tech industries, the informatization of society, the development of science and technology, an increase in the level of education, medicine, and the quality of life of people.

In the middle of the 20th century, the modern scientific and technological revolution is unfolding, which is a revolution in technology and production technology based on the latest achievements of science. Its main directions are: the development of new energy sources, automation of production, its chemicalization and biologization. The deployment of the scientific and technological revolution led to the transformation of industrial society into a post-industrial one in the last quarter of the 20th century. The transition to energy-saving technologies as a result of the energy crisis of the 70s, the creation and widest use synthetic materials, informatization of society based on mass production and the use of personal computers, robotization led to a change in the structure of employment, changed the very face of society. In post-industrial countries, the share of people employed in traditional industries (mining and manufacturing, agriculture, construction) does not exceed a third of the population. The nature of work has changed. Thus, in the United States at the end of the 20th century, the share of those employed in physical labor did not exceed 10%, while a century ago it was 90%. And two-thirds are employed in information business, provide financial, consulting, household, travel, medical, educational and other services, work in the entertainment industry. This sector of the economy is called the tertiary sector.

In a post-industrial society, the middle class, the basis of society's stability, became its basis. Can be distinguished the following criteria belonging to this class: family ownership of property equivalent to 20-50 average annual income of one worker; receiving an income that provides the family with a wealth of at least living wage; respect for the laws and traditions of the country, the ability and desire to protect their rights and freedoms, taking on a share of social responsibility for the future of the country. The average family owns a cottage or apartment, one or two cars, a complete set of modern household appliances, one or more televisions, telephones, and so on. For comparison, we present some data. Size total area housing accounts for 1 inhabitant (mid-90s): Russia - 18.3 m 2, France - 36, USA - 65, Norway - 74. At the same time, in Russia, a fifth of city apartments and up to three-quarters of rural apartments do not have centralized water supply and sewers. Quantity cars per 1 thousand inhabitants in 1998: China - 2, Brazil - 76, Russia - 110, Estonia - 200, Japan - 343, Germany - 505, Italy - 514, USA - 700. domestic product, in Germany - 9%, in Russia - 2.3%.

The village as a concept has disappeared.

A high level of food consumption is provided by a small layer of farmers. The quality of life comes to the fore in a post-industrial society, which means the ability to live in harmony with nature, society, and oneself. The high quality of life is evidenced by universal literacy and high level education of a significant part of the population, high life expectancy, accessibility and good quality medical services, an increase in leisure time and the possibility of rational disposal of it, a decrease in crime, etc.

By the beginning of the third millennium AD. About two and a half dozen countries, where more than a fifth of the world's population lives, have entered the post-industrial stage of development. GDP here amounted to 20,249 "international dollars" in 1995, 67 - 68% of the world's population lives in a country where the average annual income is less than 20% of the first group, and 34% of the population lives in countries with an average annual income of less than 10% of the first group . And only 15% of the population is in countries with per capita income from 20 to 99% in relation to the leaders. But an analysis of world development over the 1970s and 1990s shows that the gap between highly educated countries and the planet's periphery is shrinking. The most effective are the efforts of countries that adhere to the course of openness of the economy, reduction of the public sector, attraction of foreign capital, and state care for education. This opens the way to prosperity even for the least backward countries.

Basics economic theory. Lecture course. Edited by Baskin A.S., Botkin O.I., Ishmanova M.S. Izhevsk: Udmurt University Publishing House, 2000.

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POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND ITS MAIN FEATURES.

In the second half of the 20th century, profound changes took place in society: the person himself and his place in the world changed. It can be concluded that a new society is being formed. It is called post-industrial, informational, technotronic, postmodern, etc.

The main ideas of the post-industrial society are outlined by the American sociologist D. Bell. Another representative of American sociology, M. Castellier, in his description of modern society, focuses primarily on its informational nature. One way or another, the authors emphasize the transition to a new period in history modern civilization driven by changes in the economy, social life, politics and the spiritual realm. These changes were so significant that they led to the crisis of the previous development model. The scientific and technological revolution that took place in the middle of the 20th century changed the structure of production - information technology came to the fore in importance.

According to Bell, the post-industrial, information society differs from the previous industrial society mainly in two ways:

1) theoretical knowledge acquires a central role;

2) the service sector is expanding in relation to the "producing economy". This means that there has been a fundamental shift in the ratio of three sectors of the economy: primary (mining and Agriculture), secondary (manufacturing industries and construction), tertiary (services). This last one took the lead.

The basis of the post-industrial society is the unprecedented influence of science on production. If the industrial society relies on various types of energy and machine technology, then the post-industrial society relies on intellectual technologies, its main resource is knowledge and information.

Information in society has always played a special role. It is known that the experience accumulated in a long process could not be transmitted genetically, so society became more and more interested in the preservation and transfer of knowledge, i.e. social information. The development of information links has made society, like any living self-developing, self-regulating system, more resistant to influence environment, ordered the connections in it. Because the information in society, it is primarily knowledge (but not all that humanity has, but only that part of it that is used for orientation, for active action), insofar as it serves as a necessary link in the management of systems in order to preserve and qualitative specifics, improve and develop. The more information received is processed by the system, the higher its overall organization and efficiency of functioning, thereby expanding the possibilities of its regulation.

In modern society information turned into his exclusive important resource. Society embarks on the path of informatization: a systemic-activity process of mastering information as a resource for development (and management) with the help of informatics tools in order to progress civilization. Informatization of society does not simply mean computerization, it is a new level of life of each individual and society as a whole, in which the interaction of informatics and society is based on the study of laws and trends.

Thus, information society is characterized by the state when the society masters information flows and arrays that determine social development. Main and main form social development on a global scale, it turns out to be information-capacious comprehensive intensification. On this basis, the global unity of the entire civilization develops. The creation of the Internet played an important role, followed by the merging of global media and computer communications into multimedia, covering all spheres of human life. A new information-technological paradigm has been created, which, having changed the economy, has led to radical changes in public administration.

The features of post-industrialism were largely set by the emerging in the 16th - 17th centuries. Western European civilization, having now received a deeper development. This:

- high rates of development. The society has passed to an intensive way of development;

- there was a fundamental change in the system of values: innovation itself, originality became a value. In addition, one of the most high places in the hierarchy of values ​​was the autonomy of the individual. A person can change his corporate ties, be included in different social communities and cultural traditions especially as education becomes more accessible;

- as never before, the essence of man as an active being, which is in a transformative attitude to the world, manifested itself. The activity-active ideal of man's relationship to nature has also spread to the sphere of social relations (struggle, revolutionary transformations in society, etc.);

- society has moved to a different vision of nature - knowing the laws of nature, it puts them under its control. Therefore, scientificity has acquired special significance as the basis for further progress.

At the same time, the problem of the possibilities of science arises, especially at present. The fact is that the very development of technogenic civilization has approached critical milestones that marked the boundaries of this type of civilizational growth. With the advent of global problems, the problems of the survival of mankind, the problems of preserving the individual and the biological foundations of human existence arose in conditions where the threat of the destructive influence of modern technogenesis on human biology is becoming more and more clearly manifested. Anti-scientist concepts make science and its technological applications responsible for the growing global problems. They make demands, limit and even freeze scientific and technical progress, in essence, this means a return to traditional societies.

The role of technology in modern society is also controversial. On the one hand, performing a social function, it complements and expands the capabilities of a person. Its significance is so great that it gives rise to a certain state of mind - technocracy.

Technocracy absolutizes the role of technical ideas and principles of technical knowledge, extending them to other areas of human activity, believes that the leading place in modern society belongs to technical specialists.

On the other hand, the penetration of the principles of technical design into all areas of human life creates a threat to the person himself, his identity. There is a kind of "technical state" in which all priorities, and the very fate of society, are given to the scientific and technical elite. The laws of things created by civilization itself take the place of social and political norms and laws. Therefore, society is growing technical alarmism- panic before technology.

Literature.

1. Philosophy / Ed. V.V.Mironova.

- M., Sec. VII, ch. 3.

2. Philosophy / Ed. A.F. Zotova and others - M., 2003. Sec. 5, ch. 7.

Humanity is in constant and dynamic development. Once it was based on primitive communal foundations, and now it is based on the latest technologies and information. At the end of the last century, the so-called era of post-industrial society began. Just about the features of this type and will be discussed in this article.

Main types of society

One of the key tasks of a science called sociology is to identify the main types of society. This typology is based on the views of Karl Marx and Hegel. According to these prominent thinkers and economists, human civilization develops along an ascending line, passing through a series of certain historical stages that follow each other.

So, humanity has already overcome several such steps. We are talking about a primitive, slave-owning, feudal and communist society (the latter type, however, is still preserved in some countries of the world). To date, sociologists distinguish the following types of society: industrial, post-industrial and traditional (or agrarian).

For traditional type feature is that the main part of all material goods and resources is produced at the expense of the agricultural sector. At the same time, industrial sectors are underdeveloped or insufficiently developed. It is worth noting that in early XXI century, there are practically no purely agrarian countries left. All of them, one way or another, were transformed into industrial ones (as a result of the industrial revolution). Sometimes economists still distinguish an industrial-agrarian type of society. It acts as an intermediate.

Industrial society arose on the basis of industry, machine production and the corresponding forms of labor organization. It is characterized by such processes as urbanization, the formation of a wage labor market, the development of higher and specialized education, the modernization of transport and infrastructure, and so on.

Industrial society, according to the theory of Marxism, sooner or later must be transformed into a post-industrial society. We will consider the signs and features of this type in more detail. We will also list those countries that are currently at this stage of development.

General characteristics of post-industrial society

The concept of a post-industrial society was developed by scientist Daniel Bell back in 1919. His work was called: "The Coming Post-Industrial Society". Its signs, according to Bell's theory, are seen primarily in size and structure of GDP states. In his opinion, the stage of post-industrial civilizational development should begin just in the 21st century. As we can see, his prediction turned out to be accurate.

This stage is due to the development of the latest communication technologies and services, the introduction of innovations, the transition to electronics at all levels production activities. One more important feature post-industrial societies is a high level of development of the service sector in the economy.

Changes in the transition from industrial to post-industrial stage development affects all spheres of human life, including cultural, scientific and educational. Thus, the culture of post-industrial society is characterized by the emergence of qualitatively new trends, in particular postmodernism. This cultural phenomenon is based on three main principles: humanism, pluralism and irrationalism. Postmodernism as a new trend manifested itself in many areas of human life: in philosophy, literature, fine arts.

Post-industrial society: signs

This type of society, like any other, has its own characteristics. Among them it is worth highlighting the following:

• the dominance of abstract, theoretical knowledge over practical;
• an increase in the total number of "intellectuals" (representatives of science, researchers);
• rapid development the latest technologies and innovation;
• strengthening the importance of information in all spheres of life and activity;
• the dominance of the service sector in the structure of the economy;
• development and implementation of resource-saving, environmentally friendly industries;
• the gradual erasure of class boundaries and differences;
• the formation of an economically stable stratum of society, the so-called middle class;
• the growing role of science and education in the life of society;
• changing the role of women in society (feminization);
• pluralism of opinions and points of view in politics and culture.

The "tertiary sector" in the economy of post-industrial countries

A full-fledged characterization of the post-industrial society is impossible without an analysis of changes in the structure of the economies of these states. After all, it also changes qualitatively.

The economy of a post-industrial society is distinguished primarily by the fact that the so-called tertiary sector dominates in its structure. What is it, what areas does it include?

The "tertiary sector" in the economy is nothing but the service sector. Since the economy of the post-industrial society provides for the active introduction of automated machines and lines into industry that do not require human participation, the living labor force is gradually being forced out into other areas of activity. The tertiary sector of the economy should include transport, communications (communications), tourism and recreation, trade, health care system, and the like.

Very often, sociologists and economists single out the "quaternary market" of the economy. It includes science and education, marketing, Financial services, facilities mass media, as well as all those areas that plan and organize production activities.

Examples of countries with a post-industrial development model

Today, there is a discussion in scientific circles: which states can be attributed to one or another type of social development? Thus, it is customary to classify as post-industrial those countries in the structure of whose economy the main share is occupied by enterprises of the "tertiary sector".

IN modern world countries of post-industrial society are the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg and others.

Creative class and its role in the development of post-industrial society

This term appeared recently in the USA. As a rule, the creative or creative class means that part of the civil society, which is characterized by maximum activity, mobility and, in fact, creativity. It is the representatives of this class who form public opinion and turn the "wheel of progress".

In economically developed countries (such as the USA or Japan), the creative class makes up about 20-30% of all employees. It is usually concentrated in major cities and metropolitan areas of their country. The creative class includes scientists, journalists, writers, public figures, engineers and artists. In other words, all those who are able to creatively and non-standard approach to solving important problems of society.

Information society and its features

Today, in the 21st century, a post-industrial society is often called informational or virtual. Its main features are the following:

1. Information is gradually becoming the most important and valuable commodity.

2. One of the key sectors of the economy is the production of the necessary information and data.

3. An appropriate infrastructure for the consumption of information as a product begins to form.

4. There is active implementation information technologies in all, without exception, spheres of human activity.

Finally...

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, a new type of social relations began to form - the so-called post-industrial society. Signs of this new type are associated with radical changes in the field of labor communications, in the structure of the economy, culture and science.