Subtitled Ten New Directions Transforming Our Lives, this is about ten new trends research revealed to the author for the American society of the 1980s and beyond. The first of these is the change from an industrial to an information society, where the product of sale (and the subject of work) consists of information or knowledge rather than tangible items produced in factories. There is discussion about how Japan has overtaken the US as the leading industrial country.
Introduction
1 Industrial Society ==> Information Society 1
2 Forced Technology ==> High Tech/High Touch 35
3 National Economy ==> World Economy 53
4 Short Term ==> Long Term 81
5 Centralization ==> Decentralization 103
6 Institutional Help ==> Self-Help 143
7 Representative Democracy ==> Participatory Democracy 175
8 Hierarchies ==> Networking 211
9 North ==> South 231
10 Either/Or ==> Multiple Option 259
Conclusion 279
Notes 285
Index 307
Chapter 2 stress that the more technology that is introduced the more human nature features need to be included otherwise there would be a “disconnect” and the new technologies would not be embraced. An example is how banking halls are being remodeled with cozy atmospheres to go with computerization. Chapters 3 and 4 bring out the superiority of the Japanese whose styles are to be embraced. Chapter 5 stresses that politically, more and more are happening at the state and local level where people are directly affected, than at the central government level. Chapter 6 explains that failures of certain institutions to meet expectations, such as not finding a cure for cancer, drives more people to take more responsibility over their lives. Chapter 7 is similar to the decentralization theme, where more and more people are voting directly on issues and even recalling their representatives that don’t represent them properly. Chapter 8 highlights the informal business management styles being championed by new IT companies, made possible by the collapsing of the “information float” or the time between when something happens and when people learn about it. Chapter 9 talks about the shift in population and wealth from the north (east) to the south (west) as the economy has shifted from industrialization in the north to information technology. And chapter 10 highlights the increase in available options in several areas of life in the society, including recognition of cultural diversity of the citizens and the possible introduction of Spanish as a second language in the nation.
I was rather surprised to see Nigeria mentioned as one of the possible “Third world” places where the chips that went into electronic calculators were manufactured before the “Made in Japan” label got stuck on them. Really? The discussion of the fight for rights between the different levels of government in the US, of federalism and states’ rights, was like the popular cries for “true federalism” in Nigeria today, where the center is accused of having too much wealth and power.
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