Politics and the future of industrial society

This book explores the political implications associated with the term "postindustrial society." It represents an important contribution to a litera ture that seeks to understand the transformations which are taking place at the present time in advanced industrial societies and the possible futures for these societies. Unfortunately, to date this literature has sorely neglected political variables, whether taken as dependent or independent, effect or cause. There are important and striking areas of convergence in these chapters, although each author adopts a somewhat different analytical strategy. The diversity of perspectives on common problems that results is one of the most valuable aspects of the collection, for it puts into relief the very difficult epistemological, methodological, and con ceptual issues that must be confronted if we are to understand ongoing change processes and the emergent properties of large, complex social systems.

Another relatively novel feature of the volume is that it carries the discussion of postindustrial phenomena out of what has been a fairly parochial context. The bulk of the existing literature is based, implicitly or explicitly, on American experience or example; it has simply assumed that the United States is the most "post." The papers presented here challenge this assumption. They extend the field of comparison to include societies as diverse as California, Japan, and Western Europe, thus opening up yet another important set of methodological and theoretical issues. The authors suggest that industrial societies, although they experience similar changes and encounter many of the same policy or political system crises, are likely to respond in very different ways. One of the most interesting questions to ask about the future is whether a range of different types of "postindustrial" societies will emerge in response to different historical cultural heritages, political structures, timing and patterning of change, and public and elite responses.

Taken as a whole, the collection offers not only stimulating and fascinating glimpses into the possible futures of advanced industrial societies, but also makes an important contribution to the effort to design coherent and reliable strategies for research on ongoing change and its political consequences.

Each paper printed here represents "work in progress." Each raises more questions than it can answer. The cumulative result is perforce somewhat contradictory and indecisive, as the last chapter will suggest, for each author looks at the changing industrial or capitalist system through a different lens. Our purpose has been to encourage more systematic research into these questions and to suggest some fruitful lines such research might take. The success of our venture will be judged by the rapidity with which our formulations are superseded and improved upon.