Toward the Post Industrial Society: An Introduction to the Four Cycles of Technology & the Generations Who Lived through Them. December, 1995
by News Item: Nov. 1, 1995, U.S. Dept of Labor reports that American workers' earnings "rose by 2.7% in the last 12 months, the smallest amount on record." But, after adjusting for inflation, real wages actually "fell 2.3% in the 12 month period." (NYT) We are on the threshold of a new historical epoch - the Post Industrial Age. Yet this development while representing one of the most heralded events to ever take place remains almost totally misunderstood. The reason for this lack of insight is comparatively simple - since almost no one really understands the nature of the Industrial Age, it is difficult if not impossible for people to contemplate the coming Post Industrial Age. Because of this, Americans now find themselves struggling to enter the Post Industrial period, an age that offers a golden promise for this country and its peoples. It is absolutely essential for younger Americans to realize that understanding the Industrial Age (1) will make it possible to successfully enter the Post Industrial Age and (2) that they will live out their lives in this new age in any case. Thus it is more than worth while to examine the exact nature of the great age that is now ending. The Four Cycles of Technology 1st & 2nd: Textiles and Railroads 3rd & 4th: Cities and Suburbs The Industrial Age In the first stage of that industrial development, the Textile Cycle, the United States entered the Industrial Age by mastering the mechanical skills required to construct and operate factories. In the second stage, the Cycle of the Railroads, America further applied those skills and created a massive transportation infrastructure. This transportation infrastructure physically united the country and made America's great reserves of natural resources available to the entire nation. In the third great technological period in its history, and drawing upon the vast resources the Cycle of the Railroads had unlocked, the United States embarked upon an era of unprecedented urban expansion and development, becoming in the process the greatest producer of industrial products in the world. Then in the fourth cycle of the Industrial Age, the United States constructed a second great national transportation infrastructure, this time not with steel rails, but with concrete. The national highway system, started in the Great Depression of the 1930s and expanded greatly after the Second World War ended, created the basis for a new economic cycle, one drawing upon the twin technologies of the automotive and petroleum industries. In this fourth cycle, the United States built vast tracts of suburban housing and created a system of mass distribution that brought unprecedented material wealth for the majority of its citizens. The Generations In this context, it is extremely important to understand that every one of the cycles described above represented a period of time in which a generation of Americans lived out their lives. For example, the G.I. and Silent Generations' lives were defined by the Automotive-Petroleum/Suburbanization Cycle. The parents of these two generations and the grandparents of the Boomer Generation, the Lost Generation of Truman and Eisenhower had lived out their lives against the backdrop of the cycle of Mass Production/Urbanization, and other still older generations had their lives structured by the Textile Cycle, or the Cycle of the Railroads. Today and Tomorrow The exact nature of this transformation needs to be the subject of intense study and discussion. The best place to start is to imitate Samuel Slater and to commit to memory the historical structure of the Industrial Age. Once that is done, the nature of the Post Industrial Age can easily be discerned, and America can begin to successfully confront the greatest challenge in its history. mmm |
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