Postindustrial society: signs. Characteristics of the post-industrial society. What is the postindustrial society characterized by? What are the features of a post-industrial society analyze the data

The term "industrial society" was first introduced Henri Saint-Simon (1760-1825).

Industrial society is a type of organization of social life that combines the freedom and interests of the individual with the general principles that govern their joint activities. It is characterized by the flexibility of social structures, social mobility, and a developed communication system.

The theory of industrial society is based on the idea that as a result of the industrial revolution, a transformation of a traditional society into an industrial one takes place. An industrial society is characterized by the following features:

1) a developed and complex system of division of labor and professional specialization;

2) mechanization and automation of production and management;

3) mass production of goods for a wide market;

4) highly developed means of communication and transport;

5) growth of urbanization and social mobility;

6) an increase in per capita income and qualitative shifts in the structure of consumption;

7) the formation of civil society.

In the 1960s. concepts emerge postindustrial (information ) society (D. Bell, A. Touraine, J. Habermas) caused by drastic changes in the economy and culture of the most developed countries. The leading role in society is recognized as the role of knowledge and information, computer and automatic devices... An individual who has received the necessary education, has access to the latest information, gets an advantageous chance of moving up the ladder of the social hierarchy. Creative work becomes the main goal of a person in society.

The negative side of the post-industrial society is the danger of strengthening social control on the part of the state and the ruling elite through access to information and electronic media and communication over people and society as a whole.

Distinctive features of a post-industrial society:

the transition from the production of goods to a service economy;

the rise and domination of highly educated vocational professionals;

the main role of theoretical knowledge as a source of discoveries and political decisions in society;

control over technology and the ability to assess the consequences of scientific and technical innovations;

decision-making based on the creation of intelligent technology, as well as using the so-called information technology.

11. The concept of social structure and various theoretical approaches to the problem of social structuring.

Society, its signs Social structure covers the location of all relations, dependencies, interactions between individual elements in social systems of different ranks. The elements are social institutions, social groups and communities of different types; the basic units of the social structure are norms and values. Thus, society is a set of historically established and developing forms of joint activities and relations of people. Sociologists formulate and define the characteristics of society in different ways. However, the most famous in this regard is the concept proposed by the French classical sociologist Emile Durkheim. From his point of view, society is characterized by the following features. 1. The commonality of the territory, as a rule, coincides with the state borders, since the territory is the basis of the social space in which relations and interactions between individuals develop and develop. 2. Integrity and stability, that is, the ability to maintain and reproduce a high intensity of internal connections. 3. Autonomy and a high level of self-regulation, which is expressed in the ability to create the necessary conditions to meet the needs of individuals, that is, without outside interference, society can fulfill its main purpose - to provide people with such forms of organization of life that make it easier for them to achieve personal goals. 4. Integrity. Each new generation of people in the process of socialization is included in the existing system of social relations, obeys the established norms and rules. This is provided through culture, which is one of the main subsystems that make up society. It is customary to refer to the main elements of the social structure of society: social individuals (personality); social communities; social institutions; social connections; social relationships; social culture. Some sociologists believe that the structure of the social system of society can be represented in the following form: Social groups, strata, classes, nations, social organizations, individuals. Social institutions, public institutions, organizations. Relations between classes, nations, social communities, individuals. Ideology, morality, traditions, norms, motivations, etc. In addition, there is an approach to examining the structure of society with the allocation of spheres in it. Usually the following are distinguished: the economic sphere; political sphere; social sphere - society and its elements; spiritual sphere - culture, science, education, religion. The main elements of the social structure of society 1. Personality is the subject of social relations, a stable system of socially significant traits that characterize the individual as a member of society or community. 2. A social community is an association of people in which a certain social connection is created and maintained. The main types of social communities: social groups: professional; labor collectives; sociodemographic; age and sex; classes and strata; socio-territorial communities; ethnic communities. In addition, social communities can be subdivided by quantitative criteria, by scale. Large social communities - a set of people existing on the scale of society (country): classes; social strata (strata); professional groups; ethnic communities; age and gender groups. Medium or local communities: residents of one city or village; production teams of one enterprise. Small communities, groups: family; labor collective; school class, student group. 3. Social institution - a certain organization of social activities and social relations, a set of institutions, norms, values, cultural patterns, sustainable forms of behavior. Depending on the spheres of social relations, the following types of social institutions are distinguished: economic: production, private property, division of labor, wages, etc .; political and legal: state, court, army, party, etc .; institutions of kinship, marriage and family; educational institutions: family, school, higher educational institutions, mass media, church, etc .; cultural institutions: language, art, work culture, church, etc. 4. Social connection is a social process of joining at least two social elements, as a result of which a single social system is formed. 5. Social relations - interdependence and connections between elements of the social system, emerging at different levels of society. In relationships, social laws and patterns of functioning and development of society are manifested. The main types of social relations are: Power relations - relations associated with the use of power. Social dependence is a relationship based on the ability to influence the satisfaction of needs through values. They are formed between the subjects regarding the satisfaction of their needs in appropriate working conditions, material benefits, improvement of life and leisure, education and access to objects of spiritual culture, as well as in medical care and social security. 6. Culture - a set of life forms created by a person in the course of his activities, as well as the process of their creation and reproduction. Culture includes material and spiritual components: values ​​and norms; beliefs and rituals; knowledge and skills; customs and regulations; language and art; technique and technology, etc. Culture is the basis of the social, social behavior of individuals and social groups, as it is a system of collectively and individually shared norms, rules, patterns of activity. Thus, society is a complex social system, consisting of various, but interrelated elements.

S.S-relatively stable, ordered and hierarchical interconnection of elements of the social system, reflecting its essential characteristics. Part of the system is not divisible within the framework of this system. 1) .a) spheres of social life - economic political spiritual. B) social subjects - historical communities and stable associations of people (social institutions) are the basic principles. Social status as an element of structuring is a process and result of dividing people into unequal groups , forming a hierarchical afterbirth on the basis of one or a plurality of signs. There are 23 signs: property, power and social status (chapter idea of ​​the openness of the layer). C (SIZE OF OWNERSHIP INCOME) c (political belonging). 1815-T CLASSES AND T CREATION OF THE FIRST HALF 19 CENTURY.T stratification was created in opposition to the class structure of society (Marxism-Lenenism) in the ideologist of the revolutionary struggle, i.e. the social stratification advanced Sorokin (American sociologist R origin) he did not share the ideology of this power ty) -Marxism. 3 basic types of social stratification of the modern society-va-economic politic socio-professional eligibility criteria: 1) income 2) power 3) status. The social stratum (layer) has a definition of qualitative one-sidedness, the totality of people in the hierarchy is close position and a similar way of life. Belonging to the stratum has 2 state-objective, subjective (with a definite layer of self-identification) -for this layer.

All countries of the world are undoubtedly affected by the changing external environment. In addition, the internal changes taking place in each country, accumulating in economic, social, political, cultural structures, ultimately cause significant shifts in all spheres, changing the qualitative state of the entire society. It follows from this that some new social, economic and political state inevitably had to replace the industrial society. Most researchers call this era of development of society post-industrial.

Daniel Bell (1973) was one of the first to substantiate the concept of post-industrial society. He contrasted the concept of "post-industrial society" with the concepts of "pre-industrial" and "industrial" society. If pre-industrial society was, in the main, mining and was based on agriculture, mining, fishing, logging and other resources, up to natural gas or oil, and an industrial society is, above all, producing character, using energy and machine technology to produce goods, the post-industrial society is processing, here the exchange of information and knowledge takes place mainly through telecommunications and computers.

Bell believes that in the 1970s. due to the rapid development of science and technology (they are the main driving forces), modern industrial society has entered a new stage - the stage postindustrial society. This society, in comparison with the industrial one, has acquired new signs, namely:

• 1. the central role of theoretical knowledge. Every society has always relied on knowledge, but only today the systematization of the results of theoretical research and materials science becomes the basis of technological innovation. This is noticeable, first of all, in new, high-tech industries - the production of computers, electronic, optical technology, polymers, production, which marked the last third of the XX century with its development;
• 2... creation of new intelligent technology. New metematic and economic methods, such as computer linear programming, Markov chains, stochastic processes, etc., serve as a technological basis for modeling, imitation and other tools of systems analysis and decision theory, which make it possible to find more efficient, "rational" approaches to economic , technical and even social problems;
• 3. growth of the class of knowledge carriers. The fastest growing group of society is the class of technicians and professionals. In the United States, this group, together with managers, in 1975 made up 25% of the workforce - 8 million people. By 2000, Bell argued, the technical and professional class would be the largest social group;
• 4. the transition from the production of goods to the production of services. In the 1970s. already 65% ​​of those working in the United States were employed in the service sector and this figure continues to grow. The service sector also existed in pre-industrial and industrial societies, but in the post-industrial society, new types of services appeared, primarily services in the humanitarian field (mainly in health, education and social welfare), as well as services of technical specialists and professionals (for example, when conducting research and assessments, work with computers, implementation of system analysis);
• 5. changes in the nature of work. If in a pre-industrial society life was an interaction of man with nature, when people, uniting in small groups with hard work, earned food for themselves on land, in water or in a forest and completely depended on the vagaries of the external environment, if in an industrial society work was already a human interaction with a transformed nature, when in the process of production of goods people become appendages of machines, then in a post-industrial society labor is, first of all, all the interaction between people (between an official and a visitor, a doctor and a patient, a teacher and students or between members of research groups, office employees or employees of service teams ). Nature, artificially created objects are excluded from the process of work and everyday practice, and only people who learn to interact with each other remain. In the history of human society, this is a completely new, unparalleled situation;
• 6... the role of women. In an industrial society, mostly men worked. Postindustrial society (for example, humanitarian services) provides ample employment opportunities for women. For the first time women received a solid foundation for economic independence;
• 7. science reaches its mature state. The scientific community that emerged in the 17th century, that is, even in pre-industrial society, was a unique social institution. Unlike other charismatic communities (religious groups, messianic political movements), it does not “routinize” its beliefs and does not elevate them to the rank of official dogmas. In the post-industrial society, the connection between science and technology has been significantly strengthened; it has also become an integral part of the military sphere and largely determines social needs;
• 8. situs as political units. In the previous state of society, the main role was played by classes and strata, that is, horizontal units of society, entering into relations of superiority-subordination with each other. In postindustrial society, according to Bell, situs (from Latin situ - position, position) or vertically located social units became the more important nodes of political ties. There are four functional situation (or horizontal social groups): scientific, technical (that is, applied professions - engineering, economics, medicine), administrative and cultural and five institutional situs (vertical social units) - economic enterprises and government agencies, universities and research centers, social complexes (hospitals, centers of social services) and the army. The state of post-industrial society and its politics are not determined by classes, but by the rivalry between situations or vertical units of society;
• 9. meritocracy(from Latin meritos - benefit). In a post-industrial society, a person can take his position not so much by inheritance or property rights (as in a pre-industrial and industrial society), but as a result of education and qualifications, on the basis of personal achievement;
• 10. end of limited goods. Most of the socialist and utopian theories attributed all the ills of society to a shortage of goods and people's competition for missing goods. In a postindustrial society, Bell believes, the shortage of goods will disappear, there will only be a shortage of information and time;
• 11. economic information theory. In an industrial society, in the production of individual goods, preference should be given to the competitive system, otherwise enterprises lose activity or become monopolists. In a post-industrial society, there is an opportunity to optimally invest in knowledge, the production of which is of a collective nature, an opportunity that allows it to be more widely disseminated and used.

Let us emphasize that, according to Bell, changes and improvements in ideal structures (knowledge, people's ideas about new technologies) entail a change in the social structure of society. In contrast to the industrial one, in the post-industrial society the social structure consists not only of horizontal layers (classes, social strata), but also of vertical structures - situses. In a schematic form, Bell draws the following socio-political structure of post-industrial society:

I. CmamycHbie group: the stratification axis is based on knowledge (horizontal structures):

A. Professional class - four estates:

• 1. Scientific;
• 2.technological (applied types of knowledge: engineering,

economic, medical);

• 3. administrative;
• 4. cultural (artistic and religious activities).

B. Technicians and semi-professionals.

B. Clerks and salespeople.

D. Artisans and semi-skilled blue-collar workers.

//. Situs groups: areas of application of professional activity (vertical structures):

A. Economic enterprises and commercial firms;

B. Government (legal and administrative bureaucracy);

B. Universities and research institutes;

D. Social sphere (hospitals, welfare services, etc.);

D. Military.

III. Controlling system: political organization of society:

A. The highest echelon of power

• 1.apparatus of the president;
• 2. leaders of the legislative branch;
• 3. leaders of the bureaucracy;
• 4. the highest military leadership.

B. Political groups: social associations and pressure groups:

• 1.party;
• 2.elites (scientific, academic, business, military);
• 3. mobilized groups: a) functional groups (business, professional, groups allocated on the basis of the specifics of labor);
• b) ethnic groups;
• c) narrowly focused groups:
  • - functional (mayors of cities, the poor, etc.);
  • -groups of bearers of specific interests (youth, women, and

According to Bell, “a new social structure, in contrast to what Karl Marx argued, does not always arise in the depths of the old, but in some cases, outside of it. The basis of feudal society was made up of nobles, landowners, military and clergymen, whose wealth was associated with land ownership. Bourgeois society, which began in the 13th century, was made up of artisans, merchants and free professionals, whose property lies in their qualifications or their willingness to take risks, and whose earthly values ​​are completely incompatible with the outgoing theatricality of the chivalrous lifestyle. However, they originated outside the feudal land-holding structure, in free communities or cities, which by that time had already freed themselves from vassal dependence. And these small self-governing communities became the backbone of European commercial and industrial society. The same process is currently taking place.The roots of post-industrial society lie in the unprecedented influence of science on production, which arose mainly during the transformation of the electric power and chemical industries at the beginning of the 20th century ... Based on this, we can say that the scientific class is its form and content - is a monad that contains the prototype of the future society ”.

According to Bell, social structure the post-industrial society, in comparison with the industrial one, will not be simplified, but even more complicated. If utopian theorists who dreamed of universal social equality saw progress in the artificial equalization of the social statuses of different social groups, then the realities of post-industrial society not only complicated, but continue to complicate its social structure. This trend follows from the process of rapid development of knowledge and education, constant complication, the ever-increasing diversity of human activity, division of labor, multiplication of specialties and

specializations.

The struggle of the traditional classes has shifted from the economic sphere to the political one. This is where redistribution continues

of the produced product and groups of specific and ethnic interests (poor and black) strive by receiving assistance from the government to make up for their low status in the economic sphere.

The second important change in the social structure of postindustrial society consists in the formation, in addition to status, that is, horizontal also situs or vertical structures. If in an industrial society the status and situs social structures coincide (for example, businessmen, taken as a class, are focused exclusively on enterprises), then in a post-industrial society members of the four professional status classes are part of different situses. Scientists can work in factories, governments, universities, services, or the military. The same can be said for engineers, economists, medical professionals, managers. Because of this dispersion of representatives of each social group in different situs groups, the likelihood of a pure corporate consciousness capable of a vivid political outlet (for example, lobbying for its class interests) tends to decrease.

All this democratizes society. The position of a person in it is no longer determined by capital, but by his knowledge, skills and the quality of the benefits that he brings to people. According to Bell, the very essence of society will change, which should be called not capitalist, in which power belongs to the owners of the means of production, but meritocratic, in which power is possessed by people who bring not personal, but social benefit, working for their own profit, but for increasing social wealth. In this sense, that is, in the sense of the distribution and redistribution of power, the concept of "meritocracy" approaches Bell's concept of "democracy".

The development of society, according to Bell, determines the interaction of its three main spheres: technical and economic, political and cultural. The main changes are taking place, first of all, in the technical and economic sphere. But this area itself is strongly influenced by developing science, knowledge, and only then has an impact on politics and culture. Historically, Bell argues, science has been a force seeking freedom. Therefore, in a post-industrial society, science, having become a leading force, will be able to provide democratizing influence(it is highlighted by us - B.I.) both on the political system and on society as a whole.

The transition to a postindustrial society had already begun, and its features were quite clearly visible in America already in the 1970s. Other developed countries are also moving in the direction of post-industrialism. In addition to the United States at the end of the 20th century, according to Bell, Western Europe, Japan and the USSR should become postindustrial.

Another American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski defines similar features to the post-industrial society. In his work "Between Two Eras: America's Role in the Technotronic Era" (1970), he argues that humanity went through two eras in its development: (agrarian and industrial) and enters the third era - technotronic(that is, techno-directional - B.I.). He calls technotronic "a society that is formed in its cultural, psychological, social and economic aspects under the influence of technology and electronics, especially in the field of computer technology and communications." The features of Brzezinski's technotronic society are very similar to those of Bell's post-industrial society, namely:

• - the goods industry is giving way to a service economy;
• - the role of knowledge, competence, which become instruments of power, is growing;
• - therefore, those who want to “be afloat” in such a society need study and self-education throughout their life;
• - the life of broad strata is boring (rationalized production in the afternoon, TV in the evening). Hence - the important role of leisure: the development of show business, the industry of games and entertainment, sports, tourism, etc .;
• - universities, research centers directly determine changes and the whole life of society;
• - the role of ideology decreases with an increase in interest in universal values;
• - television involves broad masses, previously passive, into political life;
• - the participation of broad strata in making socially important decisions becomes relevant;
• - economic power is depersonalized (a manager is not an owner, but an employee. The enterprise belongs to those who own shares);
• - interest in the quality of life increases, and not only in ordinary material well-being.

So, Bell 'and Brzezinski consider scientific, technical and economic, ultimately technotronic, to be the main factor of socio-political changes leading to post-industrial democracy. In this sense, they continue the tradition of the technocratic movement, which originated in 1920-1930. in the USA. The leaders of this movement G. Loeb and G. Scott believed that social production can be regulated on the principles of scientific and technical rationality, the carriers of which should be professional communities of scientists, teachers, architects, ecologists, doctors, economists, engineers organized on a national scale. In the 1940s. the ideas of Loeb and Scott were developed by James Burnham. In the monograph "The Revolution of Managers" (1941), he affirmed technocracy, that is, the power of production managers, as a socio-political force capable of not only ensuring sustainable industrial development of society, but also creating a qualitatively new political system of post-industrial society.

In the same vein of the technocratic development of post-industrial democracy, the French jurist and political scientist Maurice Duverger, who introduced the concept "Techno-democracy". Technocracy, as the rule of only a rationalistically thinking elite, according to Duverger, does not exist, however, after the dominance of liberal democracy (1870-1914) and its crisis (1918-1939), a new form of political organization of society and the state emerged, which included technocratic elements in combination with the surviving elements of liberal democracy (political freedoms, pluralistic ideology, humanistic cultural traditions) and with a new oligarchy represented by the owners of production, people of the technostructure of corporations and government officials. At the same time, the owners of production (capitalists) and people of the technostructure (managers-technocrats) strive not only to manage their corporations, but also through state structures to participate in governing the country, to determine the prospects for its development. Together with government officials, they participate in long-term planning and making important political and economic decisions. Of these three groups of managers (capitalists-owners, managers-technocrats and state managers), it is formed management (economic) technostructure. Another structure of techno-democracy - political technostructure is formed in the process of cooperation of ministers, party leaders, leaders of trade unions and pressure groups, senior government officials, leading experts in the process of preparing important government decisions. As a result of the activity of economic and political technostructures, their interaction and, to some extent, fusion, a techno-smokratic organization of society is formed, which Duverger likened to the two-faced Janus - the deity of the ancient Romans. Duverger's work on techno-democracy is called Janus. Two faces of the West "(1972) 2".

Other authors, when developing the concept of a post-industrial society, emphasize the axiomatic aspect. In their opinion, the main a shift occurs in a change in values, on which the people of the post-industrial society are guided. K. Kenigston, for example, asserts that a significant mass of young people in modern developed countries strives to "search for a world located on the other side of materialism, to renounce careerism and money-grubbing." 253

In general, political culturologists, speaking about a society that follows an industrial one, prefer to think in terms of "modern" - "postmodern" or "materialistic society" and "post-materialistic society".

Modernization, says Ronald Inglehart, is not the final stage of history. The emergence of an advanced industrial society leads to another very special shift in basic values ​​- when

the importance of instrumental rationality characteristic of an industrial society decreases. Postmodern values ​​are becoming predominant, bringing with them a range of diverse societal changes, from women's equality to democratic political institutions(emphasis mine - BI) and the decline of state-socialist regimes. "

Shifting societies to postmodern values not an accidental turn in history or a kink in political development. This shift, from Inglehart's point of view, is commensurate with the transition of mankind from an agrarian society to an industrial one, when the attitude changed, formed by a motionless-stable agrarian economy, based on the religious nature of life, traditions, inherited status, obligations to the community. The modernist attitude towards the world brought with it a secular way of life, social mobility, stimulation of innovation, individualism. At present, according to Inglehart, post-industrial societies are changing their socio-political trajectories in two cardinal respects.

• 1. With regard to the value system. With the adoption of modernist, materialistic, industrial values, economic growth began to be equated with progress, that is, with the main criterion for the success of society. But at present this is increasingly being questioned, and the place of the criterion of success is taken by the emphasis on the quality of life. Such norms of industrialism as discipline, selflessness, achievements in society give way to the norms of post-industrialism: wide freedom, choice of life style, social circle, individual self-expression.
• 2. With regard to the institutional structure. Postindustrial, postmodern values ​​change social relations within the industrial, hierarchical, bureaucratic organizations that served as the pillars of industrialism. The state, and political parties, and assembly lines of a mass conveyor, and the structure of industrial corporations and trading firms are changing. All of them have approached both the limits of their effectiveness and the limits of their mass acceptance.

• - Respect for power and political authorities is falling, as exponents of obsolete values, as symbols of a passing era;
• - there is an increasing emphasis on political participation and on the transition from participation through political parties to more autonomous and individual forms of it, such as exchange of views via the Internet instead of lsbats in party clubs, organizing protest actions via the Internet instead of participating in actions organized by parties and trade unions, individual voting over the Internet instead of participating in universal suffrage at polling stations;
• - the goal of political participation is not the achievement of material prosperity and a safe existence, but self-expression, demonstration of one's own lifestyle, different from the style imposed by mass culture;
• - the craving of individuals for self-expression is increasing, which manifests itself in all appearance, behavior of people of post-material values, the nature of their communication, their attitude towards people of material values;
• - political conflicts are less and less class in nature and are focused around the problems of culture and quality of life.

These trends are contributing to:

• - in societies with an authoritarian political culture - democratization, but in an environment of too rapid changes and uncertainty about the future - outbreaks of xenophobia;
• - in democratic societies - the development of a democratic culture along the path of greater participation and focus on specific problems.

The core of Inglehart's theory of post-materialist culture is the theory of intergenerational change of values, according to which humanity will move from modern industrial and materialistic values ​​to post-materialist values ​​gradually, from generation to generation.

Inglehart's comparative analysis of modernization and postmodernization is also very interesting from the point of view of the study of democracy. He believes that in the era of Post-industrialism, the process of modernization was replaced by a process postmodernization. These processes differ in four important ways:

• 1. Social transformations in the process of postmodernization lose their linear and progressive character, that is, they do not follow one direction and constant increment until the end of history. On the contrary, sooner or later they reach a turning point. In recent decades, they have taken a completely new direction;
• 2. The previous versions of the theory of modernization were of a deterministic nature: Marxism emphasized economic determinism, while Weber's theory tended towards cultural determinism. From the point of view of the theory of postmodernization, the relationship between economics, on the one hand, and culture and politics, on the other, are complementary, as it happens between different systems of a biological organism. It makes no sense to pose the question of what determines the activity of the human body: the muscular system, the circulatory system, the nervous system or the respiratory tract system; each of them plays its own vital role. Likewise, political systems, as well as economic ones, require support from the cultural system, otherwise they would have to rely on outright coercion. Conversely, a cultural system that is incompatible with economics is unlikely to be viable. If all these systems do not support each other on a reciprocal basis, they are threatened with extinction;
• 3. supporters of postmodernization do not agree with those who equate modernization with “westernization”. At some point in history, modernization was indeed a purely Western phenomenon, but today it is quite obvious that this process has acquired a global character and that, in a sense, it has been led by the countries of East Asia. Hence follows the proposal of supporters of postmodernization to modify Weber's thesis on the role of Protestant ethics in economic development. Weber correctly understood the role of Protestantism, which, unlike other religions that held back economic development, brought rationalism and cold prudence during the modernization of Europe. However, it turned out that representatives of other religions can also master rationalism and cold prudence for the development of the economy. And industrialization, which began in the West, is today presented as one of the options for modernization;
• 4. Democracy is by no means a phenomenon immanently inherent in the phase of modernization, as supporters of this theory believe. Alternative consequences are also possible, and the most striking examples of them are fascism and communism. However, democracy is indeed becoming an increasingly likely phenomenon as we move from the stage of modernization to postmodernization. In this second stage, a very special set of transformations is carried out, which increase the likelihood of democracy to such an extent that, in the end, there is a high price to be paid to avoid it.

Postmodernization involves the abandonment of the emphasis on economic efficiency, bureaucratic power structures and scientific rationalism that characterized modernization, and heralds a transition to a more humane society, in which there is more scope for initiative, diversity and personal expression. 56

Postmodernization allows each member of society to make their own moral, social and political choice and, at the same time, requires state institutions and public structures to create real opportunities for this choice. Thus, postmodernization, like industrial modernization, creates new mass political and social institutions, but, unlike industrial modernization, it makes it possible not only for mass participation in the political process, but also individual choice of behavior style, social circle, new post-material values, new parties and other organizations posing new post-industrial problems

Another group of authors, examining the features of post-industrialism, focuses on such a characteristic of it as the ever-increasing role of information. Some of them directly call the next industrial society information.

So, for example, John Naisbitt discovered the following major changes, or megatrends modern post-industrial and information society:

• - we switched from an industrial society to a society based on the production and distribution of information;
• - we are moving towards the dualism "technical progress (high tech) - spiritual comfort (high touch)", when each new technology is accompanied by a compensatory humanitarian response;
• - the luxury of working within the confines of an isolated, self-sufficient national economic system is no longer available to us; it must be recognized that we are an integral part of the global economy;
• -we are transforming from a society governed by momentary considerations and incentives into a society oriented towards much longer-term prospects;
• - in cities and states, in small organizations and divisions, we re-discovered the ability to be innovative and get results - from the bottom up;
• - in all aspects of our life, we move from hopes for help from institutions and organizations to hopes for our own strength;
• - we find that the forms of representative democracy in the era of instant information are outdated and need to be supplemented by forms of participatory democracy;
• -we stop depending on hierarchical structures and opt for informal networks. This is especially important for the business environment;
• -the number of Americans living in the South and in the West, who left for this the old industrial centers of the North, is increasing;
• -from a society constrained by the rigid framework of the choice "either - or", we are quickly turning into a free society with multivariate behavior. 25

Participatory democracy and relying more on one's own strength than on the help of state organizations, multivariate behavior, as well as reliance on post-material values, creates opportunities not only for mass participation in politics, but also for individual choice of political

allies and political programs, political leaders and political parties.

Alain Touraine called the society next to the industrial a communication or programmed society, because as a result of the rapid development of science and technology, it gets the opportunity to use complex systems of information and communications, and also has a much higher degree of mobilization than an industrial society. In industrialized societies, individuals were involved in governed systems of collective organization almost exclusively in employment, although sometimes, to a much lesser extent, in relation to housing. A post-industrial, programmed society is characterized by the fact that it introduces large centralized control systems in a variety of areas of public life, including information, education, research, even in the field of consumption and health care. The centralization of decisions and management of these and other spheres allows creating long-term programs, programming the development of all spheres of society. The new society will be a society of programmed communications, but it does not diminish, but, on the contrary, significantly increases the possibilities of choice, because a programmed society has nothing in common with a society of unification and concentration of decision-making, with a society of political and ideological control. Programmed societies circulate people, goods and ideas much more than previous societies did. In the political realm, a postindustrial programmed society, as Touraine put it, "allows and encourages greater interdependence between the mechanisms of domination." If in an industrial society the idea of ​​justice was the basis of protest and, therefore, the political process, then in an industrial, programmed society, such a basis will be the idea of ​​happiness, that is, "an all-encompassing concept of social life based on taking into account the needs of individuals and groups in society." Consequently, the political arena in a programmed society is no longer associated with the labor movement, as in an industrial society, but with an actor holding many roles, with an "actor", with a specific person. This does not reduce, even increases the potential for conflict in a programmed society, but, at the same time, increases its stability. As Touraine put it, "flames can break out anywhere, but society is less threatened than before by a huge fire."

Manuel Castells sees the defining feature of the post-industrial, information society in the presence of networks. Network structure of society is a complex of interconnected nodes, which include the securities markets and their supporting institutions when it comes to the network of global financial flows, the councils of ministers of various European states when it comes to the political network structure, fields of coca and poppy, clandestine laboratories, secret airfields, street drug dealers and financial institutions involved in money laundering when it comes to the production and distribution of drugs, television stations, studios, journalistic teams, technical television media when it comes to the global network of new media that forms the basis for the expression of cultural forms and public opinion in

information age.

The networks, Castells believes, turned out to be institutions,

contributing to the development of a number of areas, namely:

• -capitalist economy based on innovation, globalization and decentralized concentration;
• -the world of work, with its workers and firms, based on flexibility and adaptability;
• -sphere of culture, characterized by constant dismemberment and reunification of various elements;
• -spheres of politics focused on the instant assimilation of new values ​​and public attitudes;
• - a social organization that has set as its task "the conquest of space and the destruction of time."

At the same time, the formation of a networked society acts as a source of a far-reaching restructuring of power relations. Connected to the networks "switches" (for example, when it comes to the transition under the control of the financial structures of a media empire that affects political processes) act as instruments of exercising power available only to a select few. Whoever controls such a switch has the power.

One should not think that any changes in society and the state automatically lead to the strengthening and expansion of democracy. There are many critics of democracy who believe that modern socio-political and economic processes lead to a distortion of democratic norms and institutions, paradoxical situations and conflicts. N. Bobbio, for example, put forward the thesis about "unfulfilled promises" or paradoxes of democracy, which boil down to the following:

• 1. First (and in its most general form), the promise of popular sovereignty has not been fulfilled. As a result of the growth of state bureaucracies, this promise has generally been exhausted. The functional logic of bureaucracies organized on a large scale has completely exhausted itself due to the unlimited hierarchical and oligarchic tendencies of the bureaucracies. However, the proliferation of bureaucratic structures is closely related to the increasing pressure that democratic organizations and mass parties, in particular, exert on state structures, especially within the framework of the welfare state.
• 2. The emergence of a pluralistic society, supported by the open and tolerant nature of democratic institutions, has strangled the postulate of individualism, so important for democratic supporters of the social contract. At present, individuals as the main subjects of the political life of modern democratic societies are increasingly being ousted by groups, large public and private organizations, parties, trade unions and professional organizations. If autonomy, as a postulate of democratic life, still has some kind of strength, then it should now be sought not in individuals, but in groups. An individual who is not associated with any organization is essentially devoid of any autonomous political subjectivity. As Bobbio put it, "we demand ever higher levels of democracy in an environment that is objectively less and less conducive to democracy."
• 3. The third paradox leading to the destruction of another

fundamental tenet of democracy, - an expanding and

the widening gap between the lack of competence of individuals and increasingly complex problems and the need for technical solutions that are available only to specialists. Scientific and technological progress increasingly leads to the fact that scientists, experts or professional consultants, especially those associated with powerful and prestigious organizations, become the main actors in political life. Meanwhile, the average, ordinary citizen is becoming an increasingly marginal figure. "Is there no contradiction in the demand for more and more democracy in a society that is increasingly determined by technology?"

4. Active participation in political life also advocates

essential feature of democracy, however, in modern

democratic countries there is a massive spread

conformism and political apathy. This is facilitated by the development of mass communications and the intensive use of commercial and political propaganda, tools to manipulate voters.

5. Modern democratic regimes not only failed to get rid of the presence of undemocratic elites and oligarchies, but also contributed to the development of corporations representing not public but group interests.

b. The acquisition of universal suffrage did not in any way affect the two "huge tracts of hereditary and hierarchical power" - the state bureaucracy and big business, and the latter half cuts the sovereignty of citizens to the ability to agree to decisions that affect not only the economic development of the whole society, but and decisions regarding institutions such as family, education, health care.

7. Democracy was unable to make the system of government completely transparent and public, in particular, to eliminate the so-called "invisible power" - undemocratic secret activities of state institutions, secret agreements between states, undemocratic activities of diplomatic, intelligence, secret and special services, etc.

Farid Zakaria examined the problems of development and expansion of the zone of democracy in the world from a different angle, but also stated the following contradictions of modern democracy:

The contradiction between constitutional liberalism, that is, the classical policy of constitutional democrats and the course of modern democrats about increasing the volume of government powers. Constitutional liberalism has always insisted on limiting the power of the cabinet and the implementation of the concept of the state of "night time", and modern democrats are pursuing a line on expanding the cluster powers of the executive branch of government. For this reason, notes Zakaria, the liberals of the 18th and 19th centuries. considered democracy to be a force capable of undermining freedom. The tendency of modern democratic governments to concentrate power, often by unconstitutional methods, can lead to its centralization and the formation of a model of power that is very reminiscent of a dictatorship;

the contradiction between majority rule and minority rights. This contradiction has been known since the times of A. de Tocqueville and J. Madison and is called the "dictatorship of the minority." Today, in the developed countries of the West, this contradiction is not urgent, because there are developed means of protecting the rights of individuals and minorities. But in many developing countries this contradiction manifests itself quite sharply both in the violation of the rights of individuals and ethnic and religious minorities;

• - the contradiction between the peaceful nature of the democratic system and the increase in the number and growth of the size of ethnic and religious conflicts in new, especially multi-component democracies;
• - the contradiction between liberal democracies, that is, societies that have passed a stage in their development when the ideas of classical liberal constitutionalism dominated and non-liberal democracies in which there is no constitutional-liberal foundation. It is in the countries of illiberal democracies that internal and external conflicts manifest themselves much more often and sharper than in countries of liberal democracies. According to J. Snyder and E. Mansfield, over the past 200 years, libsral countries of democratic transition entered wars much more often than liberal, stable

democracy.

post-industrial and informational societies create a favorable environment for the development of democracy, that is, they act, according to our concept, as objective and subjective conditions, as positive driving forces of democracy, then paradoxes and contradictions distort democracy, slow down its formation and cause acute conflicts in society, that is, act as negative factors. If in developed democracies positive factors prevail (although there are negative ones), in countries of democratic transition - negative ones.

All of the above also applies to the development of the concept of post-industrial, technotronic, post-materialistic,

postmodern and information society. There are also scientists' concerns about the correctness of the path of modern developed democracies, especially in light of the problems of human survival with an ever-increasing pace of economic development and social and cultural changes. There are also pessimistic notes here when assessing progress.

In 1980, Alvin Toffler published his next book, The Third Wave. He reasoned, like Bell and Brzezinski, in the spirit of the “coming of the third era” (the first wave is agrarian, the second is industrial, the third wave is post-industrial).

The features of the future post-industrial civilization, in his opinion, are already quite well visible in our time and consist in:

• - the transition of society to a new wider energy base, the use of various energy sources (energy of hydrogen, sun, ebb and flow, geothermal waters, biomass, lightning, new forms of nuclear energy, etc.);
• - the transition to a new, more differentiated technological base, including less cumbersome and environmentally friendly technologies created using the results of the development of biology, genetics, electronics, materials science, deep-sea research and discoveries in space;
• -transition to a new information and computerized society;
• - the growing importance of information, which will acquire greater value than ever and will rebuild the system of education and research, reorganize the media;
• - the disappearance of the cultural dominance of several media. In the post-industrial civilization, interactive ones will prevail, *** - see Zakaria Farid. The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy in the United States and Beyond. M., 2004, p. 101-120.

demassified means providing maximum variety and even personal information requests;

• - the future television will give rise to "indevidio" - broadcasting in a narrow range, transmitting images addressed to one person. There will be other, new means of transferring information from individual to individual;
• - factories and factories of post-industrial civilization will be little like the enterprises of an industrial society. Their main function will be practically waste-free high-tech production of a complete product to order, rather than mass production. Such production will be controlled not by workers and engineers, but by the consumers themselves, who are at a great distance;
• - a decrease in the monotony of labor, the disappearance of conveyors, a decrease in the level of noise. Employees will come and go at a convenient time for them, many will do their work at home. They will become more independent and self-reliant in their decisions;
• - reducing the flow of papers sent from the office to the office. The main process will be the process of local decision-making;
• - replacement of expensive transport by cheap means of communication;
• - the center of civilization will become not an office, and not even a university, but a house, a family, in which any of its members can receive any professional, educational or entertainment information;
• - the founding of a new system of distribution of power, in which the nation as such will lose its significance, but other institutions will acquire much greater importance: from transnational corporations to local authorities;
• -the emergence of new religious movements, new scientific theories, new types of art, which are more diverse than in the society of the industrial era;
• - the achievement of a higher level of diversity by society;
• - the emergence of a new understanding of nature by man.

In a postindustrial society, according to Toffler, technological innovation and the resulting changes will reach such rates that the biological nature of man will not keep up with them. People who have not adapted, do not keep pace with progress, remain on the sidelines of this process, as if falling out of society, and therefore resist, take revenge on it, experience fear, shock from the future. Hence such social phenomena as vandalism, mysticism, apathy, drug addiction, violence, aggression. Tofflesr sees a way out of this situation in a change in thinking, a transition to new forms of social life. New forms of social life will come, in his opinion, after the transition to the production of children according to the given physical and intellectual characteristics. Then such social structures as family, marriage, such concepts as "motherhood", "sex" will change.

The social roles of men and women will change. New forms of social life will emerge, such as group marriages and communes.

Despite the emerging pessimism regarding the survival of the post-industrial society in a deteriorating ecology, the possibilities of its development and human adaptation to it, most researchers of post-industrialism prefer to adhere to an optimistic tone. So, the rapidly developing computer and telecommunication technologies led Eduard Kornish to think about the future. cyber society. The Cornish cyber society has features that are very reminiscent of the post-industrial, informational, technotronic society described by his colleagues and devoid of alarmist sentiments, namely:

• - information technology will take on the weight of more portable and miniature forms. The time is not far off when a person will be able to carry in his pocket the equivalent of hundreds of modern supercomputers;
• - old inventions in the field of information technology will not be supplanted by their more modern rivals and will even succeed. Keene, television and the computer - each in its own time - threatened to destroy the book, but book publishers to this day publish and sell books, including books on films, television and computers.
• -in the coming decades, the computer network and telecommunications network in general will expand significantly, which will have an important impact on the life of mankind;
• -computers will take over most of our mental functions, just as machines in the past took over most of the hard physical work. The new technique will help humanity to solve many of the problems that previously puzzled it;
• -information technologies created in developed countries are rapidly spreading around the world. Computers enter millions of homes every year. In those countries where the development of information technologies has not yet reached such heights as in developed countries, their growth in percentage terms will be even greater;
• - information technologies will take on more and more portable and miniature forms. The time is not far off when a person will be able to carry in his pocket the equivalent of hundreds of modern supercomputers;
• -new information technologies will be adapted to the specific needs of people, their individual tastes. Phone, TV and computer can be combined in one device;
• - old inventions in the field of information technology will not be supplanted by their more modern rivals and will even succeed. Books, television, and the computer — each in its own time — threatened to destroy the book, but book publishers to this day publish and sell books, including on film, television and computers.

These innovations in technology and technology, according to Cornish, will cause the following changes in the cultural, economic, social and political spheres:

• -human activity will be globalized due to cheap communications, fatastically reducing distances and eliminating barriers between people. People living thousands of miles from each other today have the opportunity to work together, shop at a distance, regardless of national borders;
• - the globalization of the economy means that a metal bolt made in Malaysia must exactly match a nut made in Thailand in order to connect individual parts made in South Africa and Chile. The globalization of the economy will increasingly intensify in accordance with the requirements of the global market;
• -globalization of culture will lead to a decrease in the role of local cultures. There are several thousand languages ​​today; during the XXI century. 90% of them will disappear. Global computer networks and telecommunications will make English the dominant international language. People, if they want to go beyond the national boundaries in their activities, will have to express their thoughts in English, which, in the end, can become native to the majority of the world's population;
• -At the same time, new cultures and new languages ​​will appear; we are talking about technical, scientific, industrial, sports, etc. communities that form their own jargon and customs;
• -information technologies will free people from the need to settle close to work, which will increase the flow of migrants to the countryside, closer to nature and an interesting cultural environment;
• - a large amount of time spent by a person in front of TV and a computer leads to a withdrawal from social communication, the disintegration of social and family ties, which leads to his bitterness, an increase in cases of asocial behavior;
• -information technologies significantly expand the possibilities of interactive learning, enrich the teaching methodology, make it possible to significantly expand the number of educational programs;
• - the development of information technologies will limit the control over cyberspace of political systems and states, because people, without resorting to their help, will be able to communicate directly with each other;
• -computer networks will provide comprehensive information on legislation, governance, state policy, candidates from political parties and the parties themselves, on the organization of elections, voting results, etc. Already today the problem of creating the so-called electronic government is being solved;
• -computers will assist in the conduct of the elections themselves; -information technologies will make many countries more open. Already today, dissidents and human rights activists use the Internet and electronic communications to expose violations of constitutions and laws;
• -no, information technologies are already used today to misinform citizens by both governments and their political opponents, including terrorists. In this case, the main task of citizens will be to be able to distinguish truth from falsehood;
• - already today telecommunication equipment and computers create conditions for strengthening control over the population. It is important that the means of such controls are used by governments for socially necessary purposes and do not violate human rights.

Of course, not all features of post-industrial democracy are unambiguously positive. Like post-industrialism itself, which is a very contradictory, inconsistent and ambiguous phenomenon, its socio-political system, of course, is also contradictory, inconsistent and ambiguous. But the very movement of human society from industrialism to post-industrialism, to a new qualitative state of the political system and political culture of democracy and democratic values ​​is undoubtedly the general result of human development, is objective and irreversible.

• - Modern global problems of world politics / ed. M.M. Lebedeva. M., 2009, p. 239-246.
• - Bell Daniel. The coming post-industrial society. Social forecasting experience. M., 1999, p. CL. - Keniston K. Youth and Dissent. N.Y., 1971, p. 128.
• 2Ы - Cornish Edward. Cyberfudge / Ahead of the XXI century: Prospects, forecasts, futurologists. Anthology of modern classical forecasting. 1952 - 1999. Editor, compiler and author of the foreword IV Bestuzhev. M., 2000, p. 191 - 206.

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. It is about the features of this type that will be discussed in this article.

The main types of society

One of the key tasks of 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 eminent thinkers and economists, human civilization develops along an ascending line, passing through a number of specific 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). Today, sociologists distinguish the following types of society: industrial, post-industrial and traditional (or agrarian).

For the traditional type, a characteristic feature is that the bulk 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 at the beginning of the 21st century, there were practically no purely agricultural countries left. All of them, one way or another, were transformed into industrial ones (as a result of the industrial revolution). Sometimes economists also distinguish an industrial-agrarian type of society. He acts as an intermediate link.

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 the 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 the 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 the size and structure of the state's GDP. In his opinion, the stage of post-industrial civilizational development should begin in the 21st century. As we can see, his forecast 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 of production activity. Another important feature of post-industrial societies is the high level of development of the service sector in the economy.

Changes during the transition from industrial to post-industrial stage of development affect 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 spheres of human life: in philosophy, literature, fine arts.

Postindustrial society: signs

This type of society, like any other, has its own characteristic features. Among them, the following are worth highlighting:

• dominance of abstract, theoretical knowledge over practical;
• an increase in the total number of "intellectuals" (representatives of science, researchers);
• rapid development of the latest technologies and innovations;
• strengthening the importance of information in all spheres of life and activity;
• 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 distinctions;
• 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.

"Tertiary sector" in the economy of post-industrial countries

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

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

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

Very often sociologists and economists also distinguish the "Quaternary market" of the economy. It includes science and education, marketing, financial services, media, and all those areas that plan and organize production activities.

Examples of countries with a post-industrial development model

Today, there is a discussion in academic circles: which states can be attributed to this or that type of development of society? Thus, it is customary to classify as post-industrial countries those countries whose economy structure is dominated by enterprises of the "tertiary sector".

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

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

This term has appeared quite recently in the United States. As a rule, the creative or creative class means that part of the civil society, which is distinguished by maximum activity, mobility and, in fact, creativity. It is the representatives of this class who shape 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 workers. He concentrates, as a rule, in large cities and megalopolises of his 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, the post-industrial society is very often also called informational or virtual. Its main features are as follows:

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. A corresponding infrastructure for the consumption of information as a product begins to form.

4. There is an active introduction of information technologies in all, without exception, spheres of human life.

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.

For the first time the term "postindustrial society" was used by an American sociologist David Riesman(1909-2002) in his work "Leisure and work in a post-industrial society", published in 1958. The founders of the concept of a post-industrial society are Daniel Bell(1919-2011) and Alvin Toffler(born 1928).

In the interpretation of D. Bell, post-industrial society is a society in which the sphere of non-material production comes to the fore, in which serious shifts are taking place: in the economy there is a shift from manufacturing industries to the service sector, in technology, the leading role is played by industries based on science. D. Bell emphasized that in a post-industrial society the nature of the social structure is changing, new network structures are emerging, and the transition "from a commodity-producing society to an information society, or a knowledge society" is taking place. In a postindustrial society, social relations are based on knowledge. "What distinguishes post-industrial society," Bell wrote, "is a change in the nature of knowledge itself. What has become a decisive factor in organizing decisions and directing changes is the centralization of theoretical knowledge, the primacy of theory over practice." D. Bell associated the post-industrial society with the knowledge society: “It is quite obvious that the post-industrial society is a knowledge society in a double sense: firstly, research and development are increasingly becoming a source of innovation (moreover, new relations between science and technology are emerging. in view of the centrality of theoretical knowledge); secondly, the progress of society, measured by an increasing share of GNP and an increasing share of the employed labor force, is increasingly determined by success in the field of knowledge. "

According to E.N. Gevorkyan, Doctor of Economics, the content that various authors put into the concept of "new economy" is far from unambiguous. Some authors identify the "new economy" with the post-industrial economy. Other scientists believe that the "new economy" differs only in new elements, which include a set of knowledge-intensive industries related to the production and maintenance of information and communication equipment, the large-scale dissemination and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in various sectors of the economy. The third group of researchers gives a broad interpretation of the "new economy", linking it with qualitatively new features of the growth of the entire economy. The fourth group of economists believes that the "new economy" is a special economic system based on the transformation of knowledge into financial and managerial innovations, as well as on special types of global rents (intellectual and financial) and economic networks for the realization of these rents.

Information economy. This concept is rooted in the studies of a number of Western economists (3. Brzezinski, O. Toffler, D. Bell, I. Masuda, V. Martin, etc.), who in their works 1970-1980. began to note the ever-increasing role of information and knowledge in the production of goods and services. This gave them the basis to introduce the concept of "information society". In particular, the American economist V. Martin identified a number of features of the information society, according to which the information society is a society "in which the quality of life, as well as the possibilities of social change and economic development, increasingly depend on information and its use."

I. Masuda believed that an information society is a society in which information values ​​are the basis more than material values, and the economy of which values ​​knowledge capital higher than material capital.

According to another Western economist M. Castells(born 1942), the information economy can also be called the global economy. "Informational - since the productivity and competitiveness of factors or agents in this economy depend primarily on their ability to generate, process and effectively use information ... Global - because the main types of economic activities, such as production, consumption and circulation of goods and services , as well as their components (capital, labor, raw materials, management, information, technology, markets) are organized on a global scale, directly or using an extensive network connecting economic agents. "

Knowledge Economy. The transition to a "knowledge-based economy" is associated with those transformations that take place in connection with a radical transformation of the ways of generating and transferring knowledge. And this, in turn, is due to the third wave of the scientific and technological revolution.

Western experts, such as P. Drucker (1909-2005), M. Weggemann, believed that the night on which the knowledge economy grew was prepared by three revolutions: primarily the Industrial Revolution (1750-1880), when knowledge was used to produce goods and services, the "industrial revolution" (1880-1945), when knowledge was used to improve production processes and increase labor productivity; the third revolution, these authors call "the management revolution (1945-present), when organizations use knowledge to" improve knowledge ".

The economic literature uses the interpretation of the knowledge economy in a broad and narrow sense. A broad interpretation of the knowledge economy belongs to F. Machlup, who in the subject of the knowledge economy includes not only the analysis of the information sector, the production of new knowledge, the mechanism for acquiring and transferring skills and abilities, but also the study of theoretical problems of choice and decision-making under conditions of uncertainty and incomplete information. In a narrow sense, the knowledge economy does not include the problems of economic choice in conditions of uncertainty and incomplete information, but concentrates exclusively on the production, acquisition, dissemination of knowledge, as well as competencies and learning abilities.

The knowledge economy differs from the previous stage of development primarily in that the share of the service sector prevails in the production of GDP. Thus, in the United States, the share of the service sector in the production of GDP is about 80%, and in Russia - over 50%. Intangible assets contribute more than 70% to the market value of American firms. All this indicates that intellectual, intangible assets predetermine economic growth.

Recently, considerable attention has been paid to the formation of the concept of the knowledge economy and the development of quantitative indicators that allow assessing the level of development of the knowledge economy in a particular country. In particular, a large amount of research on this issue is being carried out under the auspices of the World Bank. As emphasized in a World Bank study, the knowledge economy is an economy "in which knowledge is acquired, generated, and disseminated to enhance economic development." The knowledge economy is based on four "pillars" - the main directions of economic development: the education system, information and telecommunications infrastructure, an effective system of innovations and the institutional regime.

The World Bank experts proposed the so-called knowledge economy index ( KEI) Is a conditional indicator, on the basis of which it is possible not only to establish the level of the knowledge economy in a particular country, but also to reveal the development trend of such an economy. Index calculation method KEI based on an assessment of 148 parameters across 146 countries, with separate intermediate indices calculated for each of the above areas.

For example, the education system index is calculated based on the following indicators: adult literacy rate, professional training of employees, quality of education in science and mathematics, Internet access in educational institutions, government spending on education as a percentage of GDP, workers with vocational education as a percentage of the labor force, the number of students enrolled in universities.

When calculating the ICT index, the following indicators are taken into account: expenditures on ICT as a percentage of GDP, the level of Internet use in business, the availability of electronic government services, the cost of Internet services, the number of Internet users per 1000 people, the number of telephones per 1000 people, the number of computers per 1000 people, the number of households with a TV set, the level of international exchange via the Internet.

The education system index, innovation index and ICT index are combined into a separate "knowledge index" ( KI). Consolidation of the "knowledge index" KI with a separately calculated "index of economic and institutional regime" and forms the index KEI. Mathematical processing of the obtained data assumes their normalization, as a result of which the index values ​​change in the range from 0 (lowest value) to 10 (highest score).

Index KEI allows you to take into account the dynamics of the development of the knowledge economy in a particular country by comparing the values ​​of the index for different years. Index value data KEI and index KI in 2012 for the leading countries of the world are given in table. 3.1.

Table 3.1

Indexes KEI and ΚΙ

Of course, the question arises about the relationship between the values ​​of the index ΚΕΙ with the level of development of the economy of a particular country. As shown by World Bank research, there is a significant correlation between the values ​​of the index ΚΕΙ and the value of GDP per capita: coefficient R = 0.67. However, this rather high correlation does not explain the causal relationship between the level of the index. ΚΕΙ and the level of economic development - a high value of the index ΚΕΙ not every country is accompanied by a high level of GDP (per capita). For example, countries such as Australia and Germany had comparable index values ​​in 2012 ΚΕΙ (8.88 in Australia and 9.00 in Germany). However, at the same time, the GDP per capita in Australia was $ 48,800, while in Germany it was $ 37,900.

However, the World Bank researchers found that a higher level of the index ΚΕΙ indicates a potentially higher rate of economic development (all other things being equal). Thus, an increase in the value of the index ΚΕΙ one point is equivalent to an increase in the country's rating by 13 points or an increase in the rate of economic development by 0.46%.

If we analyze the various signs and features of the knowledge economy identified by both Western and domestic economists, then we can say that the knowledge economy has specific features.

• 1. There are significant structural changes in the economy, expressed in a shift towards the service sector. Thus, at present, the share of the service sector in the US GDP is about 80%, while in Russia it exceeds 50%.
• 2. The main economic resource is information and knowledge, i.e. intellectual resources.
• 3. The functions of knowledge have changed. In the modern economy, knowledge can "act as a direct product of production, as an object of immediate final consumption, as a production resource, as an object and means of distribution and / or market transactions, as a means of thesaurus, as a tool or tool of management, as a means of consolidating society and reproducing social institutions ".
• 4. There is an increase in transaction costs (costs of searching for information, studying market conditions, advertising, protecting property rights, etc.).
• 5. The conditions for achieving competitive advantages are changing: those counterparties become competitive that rationally and efficiently use their intellectual resources (release fundamentally new products, improve their business processes, efficiently direct information and intellectual flows, develop a strategy to satisfy individual consumer needs, implement timely knowledge transfer and management).
• 6. There is an increase in the knowledge intensity of goods and services.
• 7. Expenditures on intellectually capacious goods and services (for financial services, entertainment, sports, recreation, personal computers, mobile communications, digital household appliances, etc.) are increasing.
• 8. The share of knowledge-intensive goods in international exchange is increasing.
• 9. The structure of the labor market is changing: the formation and growth of a cluster of "intellectual workers" ( knowledge workers), virtual forms of labor organization, expansion of outsourcing.
• 10. New forms of organizing economic activity (electronic commerce) and new instruments (electronic money, electronic signature) are emerging.
• 11. There is a transformation of individual economic laws (a decrease in the marginal product, an increase in marginal costs).
• 12. The share of the innovation component in the production of goods and services is increasing (the number of research personnel, the scale of investments in research and development work (R&D), the degree of intellectual property protection, the proportion of scientific work carried out by the university sector, the volume and the rate of production of high-tech products).
• 13. There is a large-scale penetration of ICTs into all spheres of activity.

The growing problems in the context of globalization determine the transition to the formation of a new stage in the development of economic relations - Smart(intellectual) economy, which as a whole absorbs the above basic properties of the knowledge economy. However, the distinctive features of the intellectual economy are the formation of an innovative ecosystem, the introduction of the latest technologies and Smart-networks in all sectors of the economy, the creation and provision of a productive business environment to increase the degree of innovation, the optimal use of natural, energy and material saving technologies, ensuring social stability, the development of a "green economy".

The intellectual economy is characterized by:

• intellectualization of production (the growth of research and development with their subsequent introduction into production on an innovative basis, the development of the intellectual potential of the individual and enterprises);
• institutionalization (strengthening the role of the state in the field of protecting intellectual property rights, stimulating environmental protection);
• greening production and society (implementation of ecological and economic interests, ensuring the integrity of natural systems, protecting the environment, its reproduction and rational use of natural resources, improving the ecological infrastructure, increasing the level of ecological culture of the population);
• socialization of production and society (achievement of general prosperity and collective security in an increasingly interdependent world, movement towards universal human values, socially oriented coordination of actions, the formation of a set of new sociocultural and economic values).

So, the transition from one system level to another causes a qualitative change in the entire economic system, while its functions, direction and vector of development, cultural values, and the foundations of the reproductive process change. Here we are talking not just about the adaptation of the elements of the system to changing conditions, but about radical transformations of the system-forming components that ensure movement to a new dialectical level.

The definition of post-industrial society states that in connection with the scientific and technological revolution and the increased income of the population, the priority has shifted from the production of goods to the production of services. Information and knowledge are now especially in demand, and scientific achievements have become the basis of the economy. In employment, the level of education and professionalism, learning ability and creativity are assessed. The article describes the characteristics of the new economy.

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What services are in demand in post-industrial countries?

These are the countries where the service sector accounts for more than half of GDP. This list contains:

• USA - 80% for 2002.
• EU countries - 69.4% in 2004.
• Australia - 69% 2003
• Japan - 67.7% in 2001
• Canada - 70% for 2004.
• Russia - 58% in 2007.

In a post-industrial society, the volume of production of material values ​​does not decrease, but only does not develop as actively as the volume of services. The latter means not only trade, public services, but also any infrastructure... Today the society contains:

Some futurologists are convinced that the post-industrial society is only an introductory part to the "post-human" stage of the development of civilization on planet Earth.

The main features of a post-industrial society

The term "post-industrialism" appeared at the beginning of the XX century, it was introduced by a specialist who studies the pre-industrial development of Asian countries, A. Coomaraswamy. The term took on its modern meaning in the middle of the century, and was widely recognized thanks to the works of Daniel Bell. A professor at Harvard University in 73 of the XX century published a book "The Coming Post-Industrial Society", which marked the beginning of a new concept. It is based on the division of social development into 3 stages:

1. In the pre-industrial era, the most important structures were the church and the army, the defining sphere - agriculture.
2. In the industrial, in the first positions of the corporation and the firm, industry was an important branch.
3. In the post-industrial area, theoretical knowledge has advanced, led by the university, where it is produced and accumulated.

The mass consumption society arose as a response to conveyor production, which increased labor productivity, but now there is a stream production of information, which allows you to obtain development in all directions... The service economy, which arose on the basis of mass consumption, gave rise to the information economy, this sector is developing most actively.

Reasons for the appearance

Researchers of this phenomenon did not find common ground, so there are many reasons for the emergence of a post-industrial society:

The "Marxists" see other reasons:

• The division of labor from production constantly isolates individual actions that are formed into a separate service. For example, before the manufacturer himself developed and implemented an advertising campaign that was part of the business, now advertising business- an independent sector of the economy.
• Labor has divided and became international, production is concentrated in regions where specific activities are more profitable. Previously, such processes separated physical and mental labor. This distribution was a consequence of the expansion of corporations beyond the national boundaries. To improve efficiency multinational companies locate their production in regions where trade is more profitable. At the same time, transport costs are reduced. Nowadays, production is located already far from the source of raw materials or the consumer. The profit belongs to the parent company located in another country.
• The economy and labor productivity are developing, which changes the structure of consumption. After a stable work has been established to provide the necessary goods, there is an active growth in the consumption of services, and the consumption of goods decreases slightly.
• Most of the services are consumed locally, and even a reduced price for a haircut in one country is unlikely to affect the price in another. But now information is a bulk commodity, which allows the development of distance selling.
• By their very nature, some services cannot increase productivity. For example, a taxi driver cannot drive two cars at once. If demand rises, the car will become a bus or the number of taxi drivers will increase. However, with mass industrial production, the number of products manufactured by one person is constantly increasing. Therefore, there are more workers in the service sector.

Social structure

A characteristic feature of such a post-industrial society is increasing the value of a person... Labor resources are changing their structure: physical labor is decreasing, mental, highly skilled and creative ones are growing. The costs of training workers are growing: it is necessary to arrange training and education for them, improve their qualifications. It is known that in the United States, the "man of knowledge" accounts for 70% of all workers.

"Class of professionals"

Some researchers formulate the sign of a post-industrial society as a “society of professionals”. In him the main class are intellectuals where power belongs to the intellectual elite, whose representatives at the political level become consultants, experts or technocrats. The division of society on the basis of education is already clearly visible.

Knowledge workers will not be the majority, but they are already the leading class of the knowledge society.

Wage labor: change in status

The main means of production in a post-industrial society is qualifications of employees... At the same time, the means of production belong to the employee; therefore, the value of employees is high for firms. The relationship between the employer and the knowledge worker is becoming a partnership, the dependence on companies is sharply reduced. The structure of the corporation is changing from a central hierarchical to a hierarchical network, where the role of increasing the independence of the hired employee plays a role.

In large companies, all workers and even managerial positions are occupied by hired employees who are not owners.

Creativity is important

Some researchers argue that industrial society enters the post-economic phase of development, when the dominance of the economy begins to fade. The production of material goods becomes non-mainstream, and the main form of human activity becomes development of abilities... In developed countries, there is a tendency for self-expression due to a decrease in material motivation.

However, the post-industrial economy is less and less in need of unskilled labor, which increases the difficulties for the population, whose educational level does not reach the new standards. A situation arises when the growth of the unskilled part of the population reduces the power of the country's economy, and does not increase it.

The points of view on the new society are of different polarities... For example, some researchers believe that the world in the 21st century looks completely autonomous, can control the production of technologies, and also provide itself with industrial and agricultural products. It is relatively free of raw materials and also self-sufficient in trade and investment.

Others are convinced that the success of the modern economy is temporary. It was achieved thanks to unequal relations between developed countries and regions of the planet, which provided them with cheap labor and raw materials. Excessive stimulation of the financial and informational spheres of the economy to the detriment of material production led to the world economic crisis.

Postindustrial society features