Edited by Elena Kondyli, Thursday, 18 Feb 2010, 12:58
Perkins in this chapter justified his view of modern society very well and with a unique way in which he separated each stage (Neolithic Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Post-Industrial Revolution) and in each stage he is using some very good examples and characteristics so as for us to be easier to understand better what was going on and how each revolution changed the professional values around the world. As he mentions in the first stage in Neolithic Revolution, it was the time when the development of agriculture was settled and "this enabled human beings for the very first time to make nature grow what they wanted instead on what she grudgingly provided". He comments that it was actually a mega-revolution in human society where different professionals, officials, priests, doctors and lawyers played a key role in the process, since they invented all the arts and sciences. From there on, when Europe became the birthplace of the next great social revolution, the Industrial one, there was a similar rise in organisation, the means of life and the standard of living. One sentence that really grabbed my attention is that "the difference is in the qualitative outcome, not the quantifiable rate of average growth". Having a population greater than five or more times than before, meant to create urban centres, factories took the place of small workshops and there was as a consequence changes in the working hours which became more and conditions of working became dangerous to health and crime started to give its presence resulting in a clear exploitation. This was seen through the vast gap between the rich and poor. Actually, the professionals started to emerge and show their presence too in the services sectors which were private in general, but also there were state owned corporations. These professionals led to the third stage, the post-industrial revolution. In this stage the professional knowledge is based on human capital which is created by advanced education and experience on the job, and is itself the scarce resource that enables the professionals to command high "rents" and rewards in kind. Of course, technology as it is mentioned in the chapter, does not invent, install or maintain itself but needs human beings to bring it into production. Therefore, professionals are needed to be the key players in corporations and government. Taking into account all the above, Perkins' view is justified perfectly. In contrast, from an article I have found, concerning the "network society", it is mentioned that "we are passing from the industrial age into the information age. This historical change is brought about by the advent of new information technologies - particularly those for communication and biological technologies. Society remains capitalist, but basis of the technological means by which it acts has changed from energy to information. This information is of central importance in determining economic productivity. Communications technologies allow for the annihilation of space and for globalization; the potential for rapid and asynchronous communication also changes the relationship to time" (Castells, 2000a; 2000b).
CA 5.2 Professions and professional values
Perkins in this chapter justified his view of modern society very well and with a unique way in which he separated each stage (Neolithic Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Post-Industrial Revolution) and in each stage he is using some very good examples and characteristics so as for us to be easier to understand better what was going on and how each revolution changed the professional values around the world. As he mentions in the first stage in Neolithic Revolution, it was the time when the development of agriculture was settled and "this enabled human beings for the very first time to make nature grow what they wanted instead on what she grudgingly provided". He comments that it was actually a mega-revolution in human society where different professionals, officials, priests, doctors and lawyers played a key role in the process, since they invented all the arts and sciences. From there on, when Europe became the birthplace of the next great social revolution, the Industrial one, there was a similar rise in organisation, the means of life and the standard of living. One sentence that really grabbed my attention is that "the difference is in the qualitative outcome, not the quantifiable rate of average growth". Having a population greater than five or more times than before, meant to create urban centres, factories took the place of small workshops and there was as a consequence changes in the working hours which became more and conditions of working became dangerous to health and crime started to give its presence resulting in a clear exploitation. This was seen through the vast gap between the rich and poor. Actually, the professionals started to emerge and show their presence too in the services sectors which were private in general, but also there were state owned corporations. These professionals led to the third stage, the post-industrial revolution. In this stage the professional knowledge is based on human capital which is created by advanced education and experience on the job, and is itself the scarce resource that enables the professionals to command high "rents" and rewards in kind. Of course, technology as it is mentioned in the chapter, does not invent, install or maintain itself but needs human beings to bring it into production. Therefore, professionals are needed to be the key players in corporations and government. Taking into account all the above, Perkins' view is justified perfectly. In contrast, from an article I have found, concerning the "network society", it is mentioned that "we are passing from the industrial age into the information age. This historical change is brought about by the advent of new information technologies - particularly those for communication and biological technologies. Society remains capitalist, but basis of the technological means by which it acts has changed from energy to information. This information is of central importance in determining economic productivity. Communications technologies allow for the annihilation of space and for globalization; the potential for rapid and asynchronous communication also changes the relationship to time" (Castells, 2000a; 2000b).
(498 words)
REFERENCES:
Castells, M. (2005) "Manuel Castells's Network Society geof" (online). Available from: http://www.geof.net/research/2005/castells-network-society (accessed 09 November 2009)
Perkins. Available from: http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=264620 (accessed 09 November 2009)