Major Social Trends

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Major Social Trends
William G. Huitt, Ph.D. Valdosta State University
Last revised August 2000
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Major Social Trends
Powerful economic and social forces are pushing
and prodding us to change if we want to be
successful in the 21st century.
We made our past we have made our present. If we
want to have some control in our lives 10 or 15
years from now, we need to make some changes
today.
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Major Social Trends
A paradigm is "a set of rules and regulations
(either written or unwritten) that does two
things
1) it establishes or defines boundaries and,
2) it tells you how to behave inside the
boundaries in order to be successful."
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Major Social Trends
The new paradigm is founded on a few social
trends that are impacting every aspect of our
lives.
Most of these trends are related to the movement
to the information age from the agriculture and
industrial ages of the 18th and 19th centuries
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Movement to the Information Age
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Movement to the Information Age
There is a major power struggle between the 2nd
wave (industrial) and 3rd wave (information) for
influence on social and economic change.
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Movement to the Information Age
Today only about 3 million people are involved in
farming (a number declining every year). This
much smaller number of farmers grow enough food
to feed a population of 250 million in the U.S.
and export enough to feed another 100 million.
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Movement to the Information Age
In 1990, the U.S. economy produced about 3 times
the amount of goods produced just after World War
II with about the same number of workers (Pilzer,
1990).
Only about 10 of the workforce is now involved
in manufacturing.
Pilzer, P. (1990). Unlimited wealth. New York
Crown Publishing Group.
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Technology The Speed of Change
Internet and World Wide Web--from less than a
million users in the early 1990s to 30m in 1998
to more than 330m in 2000 to 2b in 2010 30 of
retailing on the net in industrial countries by
2010
Need for constant innovation--complacency is the
enemy of survival good enough is not
High tech / High touch--technology speeds up
processing, but people want to associate with
people
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Global Economy
Movement from local to regional to national to
multinational to global
Capitalism won

• Institutional-help to self-help

• Entrepreneurship

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Workforce Changes
Needs are different (importance of different
sectors)--increased importance of information and
technology workers
Distribution--accounts for 70 to 90 of cost
Transformation of work--from low-skilled,
interchangeable to highly-skilled, critical
Dejobbing--more temporary full-time and permanent
part-time
Shrinking workforce--fewer workers needed
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Other
Decentralization--decision-making at point of
implementation
Multiple options--from either/or to and
Customized economy--just-in-time, on-demand,
personalized
Change is dynamic, not linear--small actions can
bring about large results importance of
minorities
Re-emergence of importance of family--more work,
education, and entertainment at home
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Conclusion
Look at the needs of the times in which you live
and make a contribution.
Looking only at the past for ideas about what to
do now is like driving a speeding car down the
highway while looking in the rearview mirror.
We must look ahead and take into account a
changing environmental context.
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The End