Abstract
A new type of society is now being formed. (Opening sentence of Alain Touraine, The Post-Industrial Society, Wildwood House, 1974, p. 4.) When the post-industrial thesis is broken down into specific assertions, examination dissolves it into the familiar story of plus ca change, plus cest la même chose; or, the same, only more so. (Krishnan Kumar, Prophecy and Progress, Penguin, 1978, p. 237.)
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Further reading
Daniel Bell’s The Coming of Post-industrial Society (Basic Books. New York, 1973) remains the clearest and most theorised account of the social changes involved in post-industrialism, while the most speculative account of the impact of changing technology on social relationships and attitudes is provided by the futurologist Alvin Toffler in Previews and Prophecies (Pan, 1984). Krishan Kumar’s Prophecy and Progress (Penguin, 1978) provides a very cogent review and critique of post-industrial theories, on which our own account in this chapter has drawn heavily.
Andre Gorz’s Farewell to the Working Class (Pluto Press, 1982) is a controversial and stimulating attempt to use some aspects of post-industrialism to challenge conventional Marxism and suggest the need to redefine the project of socialism. A more sobering review and analysis of contemporary trends in the ‘decline of work’ is to be found in Doreen Massey’s excellent Spatial Divisions of Labour (Macmillan, 1984).
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© 1985 John Clarke and Chas Critcher
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Clarke, J., Critcher, C. (1985). Future imperfect: leisure and the post-industrial society. In: The Devil Makes Work. Titles in the Crisis Points series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18013-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-18013-4_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
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