Postindustrial society and information revolution. Post-industrial society, information society, knowledge society

The term “postindustrial society” is widely used in modern scientific literature, sounds in the mouths of politicians and representatives of the press, economic analysts and cultural figures, but its constant, generally accepted definition has not been finalized. This situation is not least due to the fact that the concept of "postindustrial" itself indicates only the position of a given type of society in the temporal sequence of stages of development - "after the industrial" - and not its own distinctive characteristics. The contours of the modern society of information and communication technologies, globalization and networkization unfold before researchers "in real time." At the same time, modern society poses a problem for itself as never before. Hence, a whole range of diverse concepts that take the liberty of defining the essence and direction of the changes that modern society is going through.

The theory of post-industrialism was formed by the efforts of a whole galaxy of Western scientists. In the last third of the twentieth century, the ideas of a post-industrial society - D. Bell, a technotronic society - Z. Brzezinski are introduced into scientific circulation); society of the "third wave" E. Toffler, "super-industrial civilization" A. Turen; “Modernity” - Y. Habermas; D. Galbraith's “new industrial society”, the mass media society (“global village”) - M. McLuhan, the society of “network structures of M. Castells, the“ risk society ”- W. Beck. A fairly extensive list of works on the problems of post-industrial society, including its adaptation in the post-Soviet space, was published by the Russian researcher V.L. Inozemtsev.

Therefore, the post-industrial scenario of interpretation, which we will talk about in the future, has a rather diverse, and sometimes directly contradictory character.

In 1973, the famous American scientist D. Bell in the work “The Coming Post-Industrial Society. The experience of social forecasting ”put forward the concept of the transition of contemporary Western society to a new post-industrial stage. Although Bell fairly correctly predicted many features of the future society, the very term "post-industrialism" has not been deciphered in detail. The complexity of its disclosure consisted in the fact that it was still not about the actually observed social order, but only about the extrapolation of existing trends and tendencies.

The theory of post-industrialism "starts" from its own scheme of historical periodization and, within its framework, describes the emerging post-industrial social order against the background of the previous ones and in contrast to them. The periodization proposed by the theorists of post-industrialism is based on the division of all social development into three stages:

· Agrarian (pre-industrial) - the agricultural sphere was decisive, the main structures were the church, the army;

· Industrial - industry was decisive, the main structures were a corporation, a firm;

· Postindustrial - theoretical knowledge is decisive, the main structure is the university, as the place of their production and accumulation.

Similarly, E. Toffler identifies three civilizational "waves" in the development of society:

Agrarian in the transition to agriculture,

Industrial during the industrial revolution

· Informational in the transition to a society based on knowledge (post-industrial).

The driving forces and main resources of each stage of the development of society are also explained from the general logic of the above periodization. The pre-industrial society "sets in motion" the muscular strength of a person, the main resource to which it is directed is raw materials (land and mineral resources); industrial society develops thanks to machine technology and new types of energy, its resources are labor and capital. The main resource for the development of a post-industrial-informational type of society is information, the driving force of this society - intellectual technologies, it is they who produce a useful product from the initial "raw material" (information) - knowledge.

D. Bell also singles out the transition from the production of things to the production of services as the main signs of the onset of the “coming post-industrial society”. This feature of the post-industrial society is closely related to changes in the structure of employment: there is an increase in those employed in the field of intellectual labor, as well as in the service sector, designed to satisfy the needs of the population that have increased along with the standard of living.

D. Bell argued that, just as as a result of the industrial revolution, conveyor production appeared, which increased labor productivity and prepared a society of mass consumption, so now the mass production of innovative knowledge, ensuring appropriate social development in all directions, will be at the forefront of progress. That is why Bell calls the creation of computers in the second half of the twentieth century the third industrial revolution.

The theory of the information society is close to post-industrialism, but does not fully coincide with it. The concept of the information society was first formulated in a fairly distinct form in the early 70s of the XX century. The invention of the term "information society" itself is attributed to Yu Hayashi, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. The information society was defined as one in which the process of computerization, as well as the development of telecommunications and communication facilities, will give people access to reliable sources of information, relieve them of routine work, and provide a high level of production automation. At the same time, the production itself will also change - its product will become more information-intensive, which means an increase in the share of innovation, design work and marketing in its value. In the future information society, the production of an information product, and not a material product, will be a locomotive of development and a guarantee of prosperity. In the 80s, the idea of an informational, post-industrial society became popular in the USA and Western Europe. American analyst M. Castells believes that the information age opens a new historical period in the development of society's productivity. “In the new, informational way of development, the source of productivity lies in the technology of knowledge generation, information processing and symbolic communication. Of course, knowledge and information are critical elements in all development modes, since the production process is always based on some level of knowledge and information processing. However, specific to the informational way of development is the impact of knowledge on knowledge itself as the main source of productivity "[M. Castells Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture / Per. from English under scientific. ed. O. I. Shkaratana. - M .: GU HSE, 2000. - 608 p. - P. 39).

In his book “The Social Framework of the Information Society”, published in 1980, D. Bell proposed the following version of the synthesis of the ideas of post-industrialism and the information society. Bell's interpretation of the information society has all the main characteristics of a post-industrial society (service economy, the central role of theoretical knowledge that feeds innovative technologies, the development of the information environment and investment in professionalism (human capital)).

So, in the postindustrial (informational) society, knowledge becomes the main source of productivity. Why not simply define it as a knowledge society? The emergence of the third variant of naming society in the last decades of the twentieth century was not long in coming. A distinctive feature of this society is the defining role of science and knowledge as the main institutional value of society. However, behind the terminological difference between the information society and the knowledge society, there are still quite significant substantive aspects. Thus, UNESCO experts in their analytical report believe that “the concept of the information society is based on the achievements of technology, while the concept of knowledge societies implies broader social, ethical and political parameters” [Towards Knowledge Societies: UNESCO World Report. - Paris: UNESCO Publishing, 2005]. In general, the modern version of the phenomenon of knowledge society is based on the assertion that at the moment knowledge has become an object of colossal economic, political and cultural interests so much that it can (or should) serve to determine the qualitative state of society.

In recent decades, sociologists have been talking about the emergence of a new type of society - post-industrial.

The basis of the post-industrial society is information, which in turn gave rise to the information society. Supporters of the information society theory believe that this society is characterized by processes that are opposite to those that took place in the previous phases of the development of societies even in the XX century. Instead of centralization, there is regionalization, instead of hierarchization and bureaucratization, there is democratization, instead of concentration, there is disaggregation, and instead of standardization, there is individualization. All these processes are driven by information technology.

The people who offer the services either provide information or use it. For example, teachers transfer knowledge to students, repairmen use their knowledge to maintain equipment, and lawyers, doctors, bankers, pilots, designers sell their clients their specialized knowledge of laws, anatomy, finance, aerodynamics and colors. Unlike factory workers in an industrial society, they do not produce anything. Instead, they pass on their knowledge to others or use it to provide services that others are willing to pay for.

As already stated, in the societies of the past, the first technical innovations brought with them amazing changes. What will happen to our culture? Perhaps future sociologists-analysts will speak of the current changes as the fourth revolution. Often referred to as the information revolution, it is based on information processing technologies. In particular, the computer chip is an invention that transforms society, and with it our social relations. The list of changes brought about by this technological advance is almost endless.

Researchers are already using the term “virtual society” to describe a modern society that has developed and is developing under the influence of information technologies, primarily Internet technologies. Virtualization (that is, the replacement of reality by its simulation / image) of society is total, since all the elements that make up society are virtualized, significantly changing their appearance, their status and role. Virtual reality has certain properties, including:

procreation - virtual reality is produced by the activity of some other reality, external to it;

relevance - virtual reality exists only "here" and "now";

autonomy - virtual reality has its own time, space, its own laws of existence;

interactivity - virtual reality can actively interact with other realities and influence them.

Considering the above, post-industrial society, i.e. "Posteconomic" can be defined as one in which the economic subsystem loses its dominant importance, and labor ceases to be the basis of all social relations. A person in a post-industrial society loses his economic essence and is no longer viewed as an “economic person”, since he is focused on new, “post-materialistic” values. The emphasis is shifting to social, humanitarian problems, and the issues of quality and safety of life, self-realization of the individual in various social spheres are the priorities. On the basis of this, new criteria of welfare and social well-being are formed.

Sometimes post-industrial society is called "post-class". In such a society, social structures and identities, which are stable in nature in an industrial society, lose their stability. The status characteristics of an individual in a post-class society are no longer determined entirely by his class affiliation, but depend on many factors, among which education and the level of culture (what P. Bourdieu called "cultural capital") play an increasing role. Of course, it is too early to talk about the “death” of class society and the final change in status priorities, however, there are undoubtedly significant changes in the structure of society, associated primarily with a change in the role of knowledge and its carriers in society - intellectuals.

The concept of a post-economic society developed by the domestic researcher V.L. Inozemtsev. Here, a post-economic society is understood as a qualitatively new type of society, which is the next stage of development of social life after the post-industrial stage. The main features of the post-economic society are "the exit of individual interests of a person from the purely material plane and the colossal complication of social reality, the multiplication of the variety of models of social life and even options for its development in time." In a post-economic society, in contrast to an economic one, focused on material enrichment, the main goal for most of its members is the development of their own personality.

The theory of post-economics of society presupposes a new periodization of the history of mankind, in which three large-scale eras are distinguished - pre-economic, economic and post-economic. This periodization is based on such criteria as the type of human activity and the nature of the relationship between the interests of individuals and society. In the early stages of history, human activity was motivated mainly by instinctive impulses, like all biological beings. With the development of the human psyche, the motives of activity acquired an increasingly conscious character. The conscious nature of the activity is inextricably linked with its purposefulness, and the goal was the material product of labor. Finally, a new round of development led to the formation of prerequisites for post-economic activity, focused on improving oneself as a person, one's unique individual qualities and abilities. Thus, there is a typology of historical forms of activity: pre-labor instinctive activity - labor - creativity.

Another criterion is the nature of the relationship between the interests of individuals and society. In the early periods of history, the collective interest of a group or community as a whole rigidly dominates individual interests. At the stage of economic society, which is based on labor, personal material interest dominates the interests of the community; all people are actual or potential competitors, since their private economic interests are mutually exclusive. Finally, a post-economic society is characterized by the absence of a struggle of personal interests, since the desire for material success is no longer the main interest of the majority. The world is becoming polyvariant and multidimensional, people's personal interests are intertwined and come into unique combinations, no longer opposing, but complementing each other.

American sociologist and political scientist Daniel Bell in 1965 put forward the concept of "post-industrial society", which became widely known after the publication in 1973 in New York of his book "The Coming Industrial Sosiety" ("The Coming Industrial Society"). This concept and the doctrine developed on its basis, in fact, from the standpoint of technological determinism approach the explanation and understanding of the socio-historical process, since they proclaim the level of development of the industry (industry), which finds its adequate expression in the size of the gross national product (GNP), the main indicator and the main criterion of social progress. Indeed, in full accordance with this methodological principle, the so-called "theory of post-industrial society" distinguishes between three main historical states (or three stages of development) of human society: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial. The pre-industrial stage in the socio-historical process is characterized by a very low level of industrial development, and, therefore, by a small amount of GNP. Most countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are at this stage. The countries of Europe, as well as the USA, Japan, Canada and some other countries are at different stages of industrial development. As for the post-industrial society, this is the society of the current XXI century, although some supporters of this theory believe that it has already begun to take shape in the last decades of the XX century, or even earlier.

The most important feature of a post-industrial society is the predominance of such spheres of economic activity as the economy of services, the production of information and spiritual production in general. Therefore, the social structure of this society is overwhelmingly dominated by those strata of the population who are employed in these specific areas. Their share in the total mass of the able-bodied population here reaches about 90%, while the share of those employed in industry and agriculture is, respectively, less than 10% and less than 1% of this mass. The post-industrial stage of society's development is also characterized by a reduction in the length of the working day, a decrease in the birth rate and an actual cessation of population growth, a significant increase in the “quality of life”, intensive development of the “knowledge industry” and the widespread introduction of high-tech industries. Its main feature in the political sphere, according to D. Bell, is the separation of management from property, pluralistic democracy and "meritocracy". 326 Standing then on the position of the "theory of de-ideologization," 327 he believed that meritocracy as the most important component of post-industrial development is a fundamentally new way of managing society, since the stratum that exercises power functions (i.e., meritocrats), being completely free from ideology and politics, no longer act in the narrow interests of a certain class (for example, the capitalists), but serves the whole of society. This, in particular, means that in post-industrial society, which is understood by Bell in general and as a simple transformation of modern capitalism under the direct influence of the scientific and technological revolution, all class antagonisms are finally eliminated, social conflicts fade away and the class struggle completely stops.

In the "Foreword to the 1976 edition" of his above-mentioned work, D. Bell identified 11 "features" of post-industrial society. These "traits" are as follows: " the centrality of theoretical knowledge»; « creation of new intelligent technology»; « growth of the class of knowledge carriers»; « transition from production of goods to production of services»; « changes in the nature of work”(If earlier labor acted as the interaction of a person with nature, then in a post-industrial society it becomes an interaction between people); " role of women”(In a post-industrial society, for the first time, women receive“ a reliable basis for economic independence ”); " science reaches its mature state»; « situs as political units"(Earlier" there were classes and strata, that is, horizontal units of society, ... however, for the post-industrial sectors, situs may turn out to be more important nodes of political ties "(from the Latin word" situ "-" position "," position ")" or vertically located social units ... "); " meritocracy»; « end of limited goods»; « information economics". 328 To what has been said, however, it is necessary to add that in his later works D. Bell deviates somewhat from the “theory of deideologization” and the concept of strict technological determinism, since in these works he admits the legitimacy of considering ideology (in particular, religion) as a consolidating society beginning, and refines his views on technology as a factor in the socio-historical process from the standpoint of a kind of "axiological determinism." 329

Various versions of the "theory of post-industrial society" were subsequently proposed by A. Toffler, J.K. Galbraith, W. Rostow, R. Aron, Z. Brzezinski, G. Kahn and others. For example, the American sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler believes that post-industrial society is a kind of "Third Wave" that humanity goes through in its historical development. In total, in his opinion, it goes through three "waves" throughout its history. The first of these "waves" - agrarian - lasted almost 10 thousand years. The “second wave” is an industrial-factory form of organization of society, which at the final stage of its existence and development gives rise to a “consumer society” and a “mass” type of culture. And, finally, the "Third Wave", which originates in the mid-fifties of the twentieth century in the United States, is distinguished primarily by the creation of turbojet aircraft and space technology, computers and computer technology. In social terms, it is characterized by the overwhelming predominance of so-called "white collars" (ie, scientific and technical workers) over "blue collars" (workers), the end of class confrontation and the elimination of social antagonisms, and politically - the establishment of genuine democracy. 330

And in order to form a more or less clear idea of how utopian the variant of development of modern society proposed by A. Toffler is, one can at least point to the way he proposes to eliminate unemployment. So, without affecting the foundations of modern capitalist society, he proposes to put an end to this constant "companion" of capitalism and, in fact, the social evil it produces through official recognition as socially significant (and, therefore, adequately paid by the state) personal labor of people aimed at satisfying their own needs and needs (for example, raising their children, building and improving their home, growing vegetables, fruits, livestock, etc. on their land plot). He calls such people “consumers” or “ co-producers ", as they, in their person, unite both producers and consumers.

Based on this, it can be assumed that the economy of the "Third Wave" is rather an economy of consumption rather than exchange. Therefore, our ideas about labor, dating back to Adam Smith and Karl Marx, are hopelessly, in his opinion, outdated. These ideas, which perceive labor as an expression and embodiment of exploitation (or the division of labor and alienation, as A. Toffler himself prefers to express himself), undoubtedly, “were correct in their time. But they approached traditional industrialism, not the new system that is developing now. " In this system, which embodies the "Third Wave", "forms of dehumanized labor cease to exist." 331 Here a new type of labor is formed and, accordingly, a new type of worker appears. So, if the work in the "Second Wave" was of a "rough", (ie forced) and "monotonous" nature, since it was more profitable (profitable) for companies in this very form, then in the "Third Wave" it ceases to be such ... “Companies of the Third Wave,” A. Toffler assures, “do not increase their profits by squeezing the sweat out of their workers. They achieve their goal not by making work harder, but by working more skillfully. The sweatshop system does not work as well as it once did. ” Consequently, labor in the “Third Wave” becomes a desirable and creative act, and here, at the final, post-industrial phase of the development of society, a “new set of values” is formed. All this "requires an entirely new type of worker." The worker of the "Third Wave" is no longer an object of forced and mechanical labor. On the contrary, he participates in decision-making and becomes an independent subject of the essentially creative process. "... The worker of the Third Wave is more independent, more inventive and is no longer an appendage of the machine" 332, A. Toffler states quite categorically.

So, in principle, there can be no question of any kind of exploitation or alienation of the worker in the "Third Wave". If in the characteristics of the "Second Wave" we still find in A. Toffler a faint hint of them in the form of a conversation about the "roughness" of labor, "squeezing out sweat" and "pressure on the worker", then in the "Third Wave" they are even in such a soft and the veiled form is completely absent. Consequently, with the onset and development of the "Third Wave", all of these signs, together with the traditional form of labor characterized by them, seem to disappear by themselves, and the worker, without any changes in the foundations of the existing social system, as if by magic, is transformed from a bonded worker into a free worker. the creator, and, therefore, completely emancipated in the socio-economic respect. Despite all of the above, A. Toffler himself does not at all consider himself a utopian, since he believes that “a good society should represent maximum diversity,” while “most utopians and socialists,” according to his opinion, “still think in terms of uniformity inherent in the Second Wave ”. 333

A variety of the "theory of post-industrial society" is the doctrine of the so-called "information society", which declares the production and use of information as the fundamental factor of social progress, which determines all the parameters of existence and the nature of the development of society. Thus, "technological determinism" gets its concretization or is transformed into a kind of "informational determinism" developed by GM McLuen, E. Masuda and others. For example, the Canadian philosopher and sociologist Herbert Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) back in 1967 put forward his position, according to which it is the means of transmitting information, and, therefore, the means of communication and communication in general, are the main, decisive factor in the development of society ... "The whole point," he said, "is in the means of communication." Therefore, it is not surprising that he directly associated the fall of Ancient Rome with the degeneration of the wheel, roads and paper production, and the English industrial revolution of the eighteenth century with the appearance of paved roads. 334 Naturally, such an approach from the methodological point of view becomes more legitimate and substantive precisely in the new “post-industrial society”, where, according to some researchers, an integral “infosphere” is being formed, which turns out to be decisive and decisive not only in the structure of the “technosphere”, but also in the structure of society as a whole. In this regard, it is argued that a “fourth” sector of the economy appears in the information society - the “information” sector, which immediately seizes leadership and begins to dominate over the other three: industry, agriculture and the “service sector” (D. Bell), i.e. e. the service sector. Hence, the conclusion is drawn that in this society there is a final ousting of such traditional factors of socio-economic development as labor and capital and their replacement by information and knowledge. In light of this, D. Bell considers it possible to speak even of the "information theory of value", since he believes that "it is knowledge, not labor, that is the source of value." 335

All this, according to the theorists of the "information society", leads to a significant change in the social structure. So, according to one of them - the Japanese sociologist E. Masuda, the leading place in the structure of the "information society" will belong to the so-called "information communities" not differentiated in terms of class, in which a new type of person, which he calls "homo intelligens", acts as a system-forming element. ("A person who knows" or "understands"). Therefore, we can definitely say that from the point of view of supporters of the "theory of the information society", the information approach becomes decisive in terms of understanding the person himself, who is already interpreted as a subject of the information process, as a creator and carrier of information and knowledge. In light of this, it becomes clear why A. Toffler, in one of his last works, speaks of the transformation of the proletariat into a “cognitariat” (from the Latin word “cognitio” - “knowledge”), i.e. to the social stratum - the bearer of knowledge.

So, in the "information society", according to its theorists, intellectualization and informatization of production and society as a whole take place. The technical and socio-economic shifts taking place in this society will certainly, in their opinion, lead to an increase in the "quality of life" so much that it is no longer necessary to talk about the existence of such traditional social evil as poverty and misery, and another such evil - unemployment - is simply is transformed, as H. Evans believes, into “secured leisure”. As a result, the social structure of the "information society" becomes undifferentiated (homogeneous) in terms of class, therefore, all class antagonisms and social conflicts will sink into eternity. So, finally, supposedly, the period of class confrontation and social upheavals in the history of mankind, which has lasted for millennia, will come to an end.

Thus, the "information society" will be governed by a certain post-class scientific and technical or "cybernetic elite" (K. Steinbuch), i.e. a community of such scientific and technical workers as, for example, mathematicians, programmers, economists and others who supposedly know better than anyone else how to find and provide the most optimal and effective solutions to the problems of the functioning and development of a social whole. Moreover, it will establish a fundamentally new type of democracy - "computer" (G. Krauch and others) or "direct" - in which a stable and effective feedback of the population with the government and the entire system of state power will be established, which for the first time opens up the real the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process, actively influence the activities of the government and other state structures and, in fact, take this activity under your strict control.

Unlike previous futurists, the Argentine philosopher Mario Bunge, rejecting capitalism and socialism (in the form in which it was carried out in the former Soviet Union and other countries of the so-called socialist camp), offers as a third alternative what he calls “holotechno-democracy "Or otherwise -" integral techno-democracy. " For building a just society, political and economic democracy, he notes, are insufficient, although they are, of course, necessary. The fact is that the first of them concerns only politics, and the second - only economics, while "society consists of three connecting artificial systems built into nature - namely, economics, culture and politics ...". This is, in fact, why "we must fight for an integral democracy, combined with technical expertise and care for the environment." Against this background, "holotechno-democracy" appears before us as "a social system that allows, moreover, encourages equal access to wealth, culture and political power." It "is equality through cooperative ownership, self-government, political democracy and technical expertise." However, this does not mean that she asserts some kind of leveling, i.e. equality in the literal sense of the word. Quite the opposite, "holotechno-democracy" establishes the so-called "qualified equality", i.e. some combination of "elitism and meritocracy". Such equality is the result of "the combination of three principles: a) the socialist maxim" from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs "; b) the Lockean principle of legal possession of the fruits of one's labor; c) the Rawls principle, according to which the only fair is the inequality in the distribution of goods and services that is most likely to satisfy everyone, namely: rewarding merit and correcting a mistake. " Therefore, it is not surprising that "holotechno-democracy implies a combination of cooperation and competition ...". "Integral techno-democracy" is also characterized by the need for the smallest and weakest state possible, since "a well-organized society does not need a large government." At the same time, it "presupposes the creation of a federation and states" up to a "world government", since "effective management of systems of a larger scale requires the central coordination of their constituent units." And finally, under her freedom and contract, which were very limited in class society, should be fully developed and "flourish." So, M. Bungle designates the main points of his futurological concept, the possible utopianism of which he, unlike A. Toffler, does not deny, but recognizes. 336

Various modifications of the "theory of postindustrial society" give some researchers some reason to talk about the onset, along with the formation of this society, of a new era in the history of mankind, or a new civilization ("global"), in which all aspects of society and aspects of culture, starting with technology and economics and ending with art and other components of the spiritual life of mankind, will undergo a significant transformation. The outlines of this new "global" civilization, in a first approximation, begin to emerge with the emergence of the trinity - space (or, more precisely, communication) satellite, cable TV and personal computer - and the proliferation of "iron collars" (ie robots). The global information civilization, thus, is characterized by the creation and establishment of a single planetary information space - a global information network, which is a kind of synthesis of television, computer services and energy, i.e. what J. Pelton calls "telecomputer power".

In conclusion, it should be noted that although the "information society" and "global civilization" should, according to the forecasts of some of their theorists, already take shape and really exist, we, however, do not actually observe them anywhere. As for the processes of informatization and globalization, which actually occur in the modern world, they, contrary to all optimistic expectations and forecasts, do not remove or even soften, but on the contrary, they further exacerbate social tension and intensify social confrontation in modern society. and in general, in terms of their consequences, they turn out to be very far from the idyll that theorists of "informational" or "postindustrial" society in general usually draw in their futurological concepts. That this is the case is proved at least by the fact that these processes did not lead to a decrease, as was expected, but, on the contrary, to a further increase in the level of unemployment and poverty throughout the world, including in Europe. This fact was, in particular, noted by the "Club of Rome" in the declaration adopted by it in December 1993 in Hanover on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, which explicitly stated that poverty "is spreading more and more widely in European countries" and that " the unemployment rate in the modern world continues to grow ”337.

Attention should also be paid to the fact that in modern Western society, which, allegedly, has already entered the "information" phase or phase of its development, nowhere is anything happening that would indicate the "surrender" of labor and capital of their positions as decisive factors of socio-economic development or would herald their displacement and replacement by information and knowledge, as theorists of the "information society" prophesied. The realities of today suggest just the opposite. In particular, they show that information and knowledge in a given society are still a commodity and that they, therefore, remain simple expressions and embodiments of labor and capital. Indeed, in the so-called "information society" information and knowledge as accomplished (dead) labor are, as before, an element of constant capital, and as labor performed (living) they are included in the structure of variable capital. Therefore, in principle, there can be no talk of any displacement of labor and capital and their replacement by information and knowledge, and talk about some kind of "information theory of value" at best turns out to be meaningless.

Based on the above, it is difficult to disagree with the words of W. Dizard, expressed by him back in 1982 in the work “The Coming Information Age. An Overview of Technology, Economics and Politics. NY, 1, 1982 "(" The Coming Information Age. General Survey of Technology, Economics and Politics. NY 1, 1982 ") that" indeed, neither Bell nor other futurists have been able to give any convincing picture of the future ". 338 And the point here is not just the “intellectual modesty” of these researchers or the fundamental “impossibility of dwelling on any of the many possible prospects,” as this author believes, but the failure of many “scenarios” of the development of modern society proposed by Western futurologists. In any case, it can be stated with a high degree of confidence that the real process of development of Western society over the past three decades, which have passed since the emergence of the “theory of postindustrial society”, quite clearly revealed the utopianism and scientific inconsistency of many aspects of this “theory”, which in its various modifications was actually directed, as it is not difficult to guess, against the Marxist "theory of socio-economic formation" and which therefore performed an ideological rather than scientific function.

In recent decades, sociologists have been talking about the emergence of a new type of society - post-industrial.

The basis postindustrial society is the information that in turn gave rise to. Supporters of the information society theory believe that this society is characterized by processes that are opposite to those that took place in the previous phases of the development of societies even in the XX century. Instead of centralization, there is regionalization, instead of hierarchization and bureaucratization, there is democratization, instead of concentration, there is disaggregation, and instead of standardization, there is individualization. All these processes are driven by information technology.

procreation - virtual reality is produced by the activity of some other reality, external to it;
relevance - virtual reality exists only "here" and "now";
autonomy - virtual reality has its own time, space, its own laws of existence;
interactivity - virtual reality can actively interact with other realities and influence them.

Rice. 6.1. Ideological and political preferences of representatives of various generations of Russians (answer to the question: "What idea do you consider yourself to be a supporter of?"),%: 1 - a supporter of radical market reforms and the fastest rapprochement with Western countries; 2- supporter of the independent Russian way of the country's development; 3 - supporter of socialism; 4 - a supporter of a combination of various ideas listed above, but tending to avoid extremes; 5 - I do not consider myself to be anyone, since I am not interested in politics; 6- I find it difficult to answer

Post-economic type of society is defined as follows: "By post-economic society we mean a type of social structure where a person's economic activity becomes more and more intensive and complex, but is no longer determined by his material interests, is not set by the traditionally understood economic expediency." The economic basis of such a society is formed by the destruction of private property and the return to personal property, the state of the worker's inalienability from the instruments of production. The post-economic society is characterized by a new type of social confrontation - the confrontation between the information and intellectual elite and all people who have not entered it, who are employed in the sphere of mass production and are therefore forced out of the way.
the ripheria of society. However, the members of such a society have the opportunity to make themselves the elite, since belonging to the elite is determined by ability and knowledge.

In this regard, Russian sociologists asked the question: what path of development do different generations of modern Russians prefer? The data of applied sociological research allow us to conclude that there is a tendency to deideologize both the older generation and the youth (see Fig. 6.1).

The results of sociological research indicate the presence among our fellow citizens of adherents of different models of the development of society, represented in various social groups (see Fig. 6.2).

Rice. 6.2. Distribution of Russians by types of worldview in 2004-2007,%: 1 - traditionalists; 2 - intermediate; 3 - modernists

The post-industrial society is sometimes called information society. "Information society" is a narrower concept than "post-industrial society".

The term "information society" arose in the second half of the 60s simultaneously in the USA and Japan by F. Machlup and T. Umesao. It is closely related to the development of computer science and cybernetics.

The information society is a society in which the majority of the working population is engaged in the production, storage, processing and sale of information. In the information society, they produce and consume intelligence, knowledge, which leads to an increase in the share of mental labor.

The hallmarks of the information society are:

1. increasing the role of information and knowledge in the life of society;
2. an increase in the share of information communications, products and services in the gross domestic product;
3. Creation of a global information space, ensuring effective information interaction of people, their access to world information resources, meeting their needs for information products and services.

The technical basis of the information society is the development of computer technologies and means of communication. Modern means of storing, processing and transmitting information allow a person to receive the required information almost instantly at any time from anywhere in the world.

The huge amount of information accumulated by humanity and continues to grow constantly circulates in modern society and acts not just as a social memory (for example, in books), but as a means of decision-making and more and more often without direct human participation.

The information revolution in modern societies is causing certain social changes.

In many societies, a phenomenon that can be called an increase in the "transparency of national borders" is becoming increasingly apparent. A.I. Kravchenko, V.F. Anurin Sociology, LLC "Leader", 2010, p. 408. So a citizen of any of the states that have signed the Schengen agreement can freely move to any other country of the European community without obtaining a visa or other permit. You can leave Poland in the morning and after driving through Belgium, Germany, and France in a day, end up in Spain in the evening without asking permission from anyone, or going through customs, and without notifying anyone in advance of your intentions. Territorial boundaries between states exist, but they are increasingly becoming formal and actually existing only on geographical maps.

Information about the activities of one's own and other states, available to citizens, is more complete, open and accessible today than ever before in history. An information society is taking shape and this process can hardly be stopped.

In postindustrial society, the dominant role is played not so much by private as by corporate and institutional ownership of the means of production. A.I. Kravchenko, V.F. Anurin Sociology, LLC "Leader", 2010, p. 411. The basis is the use of a person's intellectual abilities, and not his physical strength. In such an economic system, the mode of production must be based on knowledge.

As the service and information sectors of the economy develop, wealth loses the material embodiment that land gave it in an agrarian society, and capital in an industrial one. The main unit of exchange is not only a few money - metal or paper, cash or non-cash - how much information. Electronic money or a credit card is information about the degree of solvency of the owner of this card.

In post-industrial society, there is an increase in the number and variety of organizational forms of production management. Home work using computer technology, multimedia and telecommunication systems will play a leading role in the labor process.

Computerization and the development of telecommunications, as well as the widespread introduction of computer networks, enable an increasing number of people employed in industries related to the production and processing of information to go to work without leaving their homes. They can communicate with their employers and clients: receive assignments, report on their implementation and receive payments for the work performed over computer networks. This way of life is available only to those members of society whose professional activities are of an intellectual nature. But the proportion of this category of the population in the post-industrial society is constantly growing.

In a post-industrial society, getting a sufficiently high education is valued.

An increasing number of people are using the opportunities of distance learning, improving their qualifications. The advantages of distance learning are the expansion of the possibilities and service of the educational services provided to students, the use of a lifelong learning system.

Modern information technologies make it possible to make purchases without leaving home. A potential buyer who has a personal computer at home can familiarize himself in detail with the range of products of stores located not only in his city, country, but also in other countries of the world. You can also pay for your purchase over the Internet with home delivery. In the same way, you can perform various transactions with real estate - buying, selling, exchanging, renting.

The most important driving force behind the change in the post-industrial society is the automation and computerization of production processes and the so-called “high technologies”.

The time gap between the three cycles of technology renewal has been significantly reduced:

1) the emergence of a creative idea
2) its practical implementation
3) introduction into social production.

Newly invented machines and equipment become not only products, but also a source of fresh ideas.

Informatization has changed the nature of labor in industries. The reason for this is the emergence of robotic systems, the widespread introduction of elements of microprocessor technology.

Let me give you an example. OJSC Mondi Syktyvkar Timber Industry Complex is located on the territory of the Komi Republic, where I live. This enterprise is one of the leaders in the pulp and paper industry and the largest manufacturer of paper products in Russia. In 70-80s about 12 thousand people worked at the plant. Currently, Mondi SLPK and its subsidiaries employ 6,500 people.

The modern information revolution is associated with the invention of intelligent technologies based on gigantic information processing speeds. It gives a colossal (millions, billions of times) increase in information circulating in society, which makes it possible to effectively solve economic, social, cultural, political and other problems.

The United States and Japan fit well with the criteria for an information society. For example, in the United States, about 80 percent of workers are employed in services and information production, 17 percent in industrial production, and about three percent in agriculture.

The development of information and communication technologies leads to changes in the political life of society. An increasing number of people get online access to the texts of draft laws even at the stage of their preliminary development. Each person gets the opportunity to address an unlimited audience and express their opinion on a particular issue.

Thus, in a post-industrial society, the main role is played not by industry and production, but by science and technology. Postindustrial society can be defined by the ability to generate and transmit information.

The post-industrial society is an information society, since the post-industrial society in its activities does not do without information technologies.

Information technology helps us in life. This is the face of modern society. We are surrounded by cell phones, computers, the Internet, television - all this is an integral part of modern man.

The use of computers in all spheres of human activity will provide access to reliable sources of information, automate the processing of information in the industrial and social spheres, and accelerate the adoption of optimal decisions.

Thus, the main features of the information society are:

- information becomes the main priority over other products of human activity;
- information becomes the fundamental principle of all areas of human activity;
- information is the subject of purchase and sale;
- information is a product of human activity;
-Equal opportunities for the entire population in access to information;
- security of information, information society;
- protection of intellectual property;
- management of the information society by the state and public organizations.

The information society is a change not only in production, but also in the worldview of people. The role of mental labor is increasing. People are starting to consume more and more information than material resources. The ability to be creative is becoming an important human trait.