Theories of Industrial Society (RLE Social Theory)

Richard Badham

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781138782983
• eBook ISBN: 9781317650515
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

The concept of industrial society plays a dominant role in the social sciences. The 'Great Divide' between pre-industrial and industrial societies is commonly assumed to be the main bridge separating modern societies from the past, and distinguishing 'developed' from 'undeveloped' states in the present era. In history, economics, politics and sociology the concept of industrial society underlies a wide variety of discussions, particularly those relating to economic development and social progress. Outside academic writing, too, the concept exerts a great deal of influence. In the developing world, there is a widespread concern to 'industrialise', whilst in the developed world there is growing uneasiness as to whether 'industrialisation' is beneficial or not, but still the concept is central. This book examines critically the concept of industrial society, its pervasiveness and influence. It reviews all the major theories of industrial society and the research into the changing character of post-industrial societies. It argues that the decision to use the concept severely restricts the social imagination, and that the concept becomes increasingly less useful as criticism of the equating of industrialisation with social progress grows.

© 1986 Richard J. Badham

Croom Helm Ltd, Provident House, Burrell Row,

Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AT

Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd, Suite 4, 6th Floor,

64–76 Kippax Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010, Australia

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Badham, Richard J.

Theories of industrial society.——(Croom Helm

international series in social and political thought)

1. Sociology 2. Industry——Social aspects

I. Title

303.4 HM51

ISBN 0-7099-3921-3

DOI: 10.4324/9781315763187

The author and publishers would like to thank

Sage Publications for permission to reproduce material from

Current Sociology, Vol. 32, No. 1 Spring 1984:

‘Sociology of Industrial and Post-Industrial Societies’.

To Crécy

and the end of an era

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Part One: Industrial Society: Theory and Research
3. 1. Industrial Society: History I
4. 2. Industrial Society: History II
5. 3. Post-Capitalist Society
6. 4. Post-Industrial Society
7. Part Two: Industrial Society: Concept and Classification
8. 5. Images of Society
9. 6. The Industrial Complex
10. 7. One-Dimensional Production
11. 8. Industry and Progress
12. Part Three: Technology and Society: New Perspectives
13. 9. Technochoice, Power and Development
14. 10. The Industrial Dilemma
15. Bibliography
16. Index

INTRODUCTION

In schools and universities we are presented with the powerful image of the Industrial Revolution as the ‘great growling engine of change’ launching the world into the modern era. Like the French Revolution, this image of the Industrial Revolution has attained enormous symbolic significance. Whereas the French Revolution became a symbol of man’s capacity to shape society according to the dictates of Reason, the Industrial Revolution became a symbol of man’s increasing technological power and capacity to harness the forces of nature.

In both cases, however, democratic and technological achievements were marred by widespread violence, inhumanity and suffering. The French revolution became a locus classicus for power abuse and rule by terror, all originating from untempered political idealism and unregulated mass action. The Industrial Revolution came to stand for the fragmentation of society and the dehumanisation of man, the poverty and ugliness of proletarian life, the spirit of disenchanted calculation and crass commercialism. Worship of the Age of Reason merged with fear of the Reign of Terror; praise of the Age of Industry went hand in hand with hatred of the ‘dark satanic mills’ — with an aversion to the perversity of ‘Faustian man’.

This view of the Industrial Revolution is directly linked to a set of images of industrialism, industrialisation and industrial society. In the popular mind the image of an industrial Leviathan marching through history often provides a general, if only vaguely formulated, perspective on world history and contemporary societies. The ‘great divide’ between pre-industrial and industrial societies is commonly assumed to be the main bridge separating modern societies from the past, distinguishing ‘developed’ from ‘underdeveloped’ states in the present era. This image of industrial society has played a dominant role in the social sciences. In history, politics and economics, as well as in sociology, the idea of industrial society provides the background for discussions of modern history, power in contemporary societies, market economies and economic growth. Yet in recent years this image has been increasingly challenged. A number of critics have condemned the ‘technocratic consciousness’ and ideology of industrialism’ associated with this perspective (Dickson 1974; Roszak 1973). In addition, the last decade witnessed a more systematic critique of the ‘theory of industrial society’ within the social sciences (Giddens 1982; Salaman 1981; Scott 1979). Uniting both sets of criticisms is a reaction against the cruder image of industrial society as providing both an explanation of the structure and change of modern societies and as an ideal for guiding and directing future social development.

Beyond the limited confines of academic discourse, the classical image of industrial society has played an important role in structuring contemporary social identity and political programmes. In the less affluent world, there is the widespread concern to ‘industrialize’. In the more affluent world there is an uneasy combination of a desire to re-establish post-war levels of economic growth with an increasing awareness of the many limits of growth’ and ‘diseconomies of scale’. Influenced by the traditional images of industrial society, these issues are often presented in terms of ‘industrialize and be damned’ or ‘industrialize or be damned’. There appears either a commitment to ‘growth’, voiced in terms of the ‘need to industrialize’ and the ‘impossibility of turning back’ or a radical critique of the inherent ills of the mechanised iron cage of an inhuman industrialism.

The image of industrial society, to the extent that it actively promotes such a view, severely restricts the social imagination. Yet the influence of the image of industrial society is even wider than its support of the more extreme technocratic and technophobic approaches to economic progress. It has continued to provide the background images and set of assumptions that underlie a wide variety of contemporary discussions of economic development and social progress — even amongst those more aware of the limitations of the traditional images of industrialism. Immense significance is still attached to unilinear industrial development as the ultimate key to all progress. In this way, we shall argue, it obscures the social structures and power relationships responsible for selecting the form and direction of technology and growth. Equally significantly, it prevents reflection on the need for technological and economic choice, and hinders widespread public debate on the criteria to be used in making such choices.

The present discussions of the ‘theory of industrial society’ and the ‘ideology of industrialism’ obtain wider significance against this general background of reaction against crude images of industry as a guide for the future. Yet the social scientific critiques of industrial society theory have generally failed to address the major issue that this raises. They have condemned the industrial perspective on modern states for its ‘evolutionist’, ‘functionalist’, ‘technicist’ or ‘positivist’ excesses. These criticisms, as we shall see, are richly deserved. They do not, however, grasp the central purpose, and hence appeal, of industrial society theory. They have left relatively unchallenged the more general assumption that it is still industrialization that crucially separates past from present. The many important variants of this general industrial society theory all share the one basic assumption: that a number of modern states are fundamentally ‘industrial’ societies and that social investigation and political action are, or should be, centrally concerned with understanding and attending to the implications of this fact.

Criticism can be as misleading and dangerous as the original theory that is criticized. To adapt a comment made by Marx: even in their criticisms there is mystification. To concentrate on extreme evolutionary theories of industrialism or uncritical technocratic celebrations of industrial progress is to ignore the more general industrial society theory that continues to structure our overall sense of historical time and social progress.

The concern of this book is to examine critically the pervasiveness and influence of this theory. The focus is less on the reality than on the theory of industrial society. It examines critically the implications of the initial theoretical decision to describe modern societies as fundamentally ‘industrial’. The category ‘industrial society’ is not here taken as given, with attention accordingly concentrated on the state of research into its ‘nature’. ¹ The main concern, rather, is with the effect of the decision to employ this construct, together with the influence of that decision on ensuing social research. The purpose, value and problems involved in this...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Routledge Page
• Halftitle Page
• Copyright Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page 1
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part One: Industrial Society: Theory and Research
• 1. Industrial Society: History I
• 2. Industrial Society: History II
• 3. Post-Capitalist Society
• 4. Post-Industrial Society
• Part Two: Industrial Society: Concept and Classification
• 5. Images of Society
• 6. The Industrial Complex
• 7. One-Dimensional Production
• 8. Industry and Progress
• Part Three: Technology and Society: New Perspectives
• 9. Technochoice, Power and Development
• 10. The Industrial Dilemma
• Bibliography
• Index