The Great Disruption Human Nature and the Reconstitution of Social Order [Paperback]

In the past thirty years, the United States has undergone a profound transformation in its social structure: Crime has increased, trust has declined, families have broken down, and individualism has triumphed over community. Has the Great Disruption of recent decades rent the fabric of American society irreparably? In this brilliant and sweeping work of social, economic, and moral analysis, Francis Fukuyama shows that even as the old order has broken apart, a new social order is already taking its place.The Great Disruptionforges a new model for understanding the Great Reconstruction that is under way.Francis Fukuyamais a professor of public policy at George Mason University and the author ofThe End of Historyand theLast Man and Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity.He lives in McLean, Virginia.Chapter 1: Playing by the Rules
After the Industrial Era
Over the past half-century, the United States and other economically advanced countries have gradually made the shift into what has been called an information society, the information age, or the postindustrial era. Futurist Alvin Toffler has labeled this transition the Third Wave, suggesting that it will ultimately be as consequential as the two previous waves in human history: from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies and then from agricultural to industrial ones.
This shift consists of a number of related elements. In the economy, services increasingly displace manufacturing as a source of wealth. Instead of working in a steel mill or automobile factory, the typical worker in an information society has a job in a bank, software firm, restaurant, university, or social service agency. The role of information and intelligence, embodied in both people and increasingly smart machines, becomes pervasive, and mental labor tends to replace physical labor. Production is globalized as inexpensive information technology makes it increasingly easylÈ