Post-Capitalist Society

Written by Dr. Jerry Stein

In his book, Post-capitalist society, Peter Drucker, a self-described “social ecologist” and management consultant examines the emergence of the information society and its impact on capitalism and workers.

Although the world economy may remain a market economy and retain the market, its substance, according to Drucker, has been radically changed and is now dominated by “information capitalism.”  The focus has shifted from the production and distribution of materials to the production and distribution of knowledge and information.

As a result, manual labor can no longer compete with knowledge labor.  In the post-capitalist society, Drucker argues, it is often not enough for blue collar workers to simply master a specific skill set.  Instead, the greatest employment need is for “technicians” defined as highly skilled workers who also possess a substantial amount of formal knowledge, formal education, and the capacity to continually learn and acquire additional knowledge.

Due to the work of Drucker and others, we now understand that this shift from manual labor to knowledge labor has had a profound impact on society especially in the way it has increased the importance of education.  Those who are unsuccessful in schools and have difficulty learning are becoming less marketable and finding it more difficult to find work that can support themselves and their families.  Drucker is somewhat hopeful, arguing that “the ability to connect and thus to raise the yield of existing knowledge is learnable” (p. 193).

Drucker fascinatingly claims that the growing presence of knowledge employees alters our understanding of capitalism.  That is, the means of production have become the accumulated education and ideas that knowledge employees bring to their work. When knowledge employees leave they thus take the means of production with them – something not possible in the traditional understanding of capitalism.

A good education has always been a gateway to the world of economic productivity. As the ability to access, produce and creatively interact with information becomes hard to distinguish from economic productivity (the means of production) strong foundations for learning based in family and community can also be seen as the foundation for social equity.

 References:

Drucker, P. F. (1993). Post-capitalist society. (pp. 62-193).