Future Shock is a book written by the futurist Alvin Toffler in 1970. In the book, Toffler defines the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. His shortest definition for the term is a personal perception of "too much change in too short a period of time".
The book, which became an international bestseller, grew out of an article "The Future as a Way of Life" in Horizon magazine, Summer 1965 issue.
The book has sold over 6 million copies and has been widely translated.
A documentary film based on the book was released in 1972 with Orson Welles as on-screen narrator.
Development of society and production.
Alvin Toffler distinguished three stages in development of society and production: Agrarian, Industrial and Post-industrial.
The first stage began in the period of the Neolithic Era when people invented agriculture therefore people passed from barbarity to a civilization. The second stage began in England with the Industrial Revolution where people invented the machine tool and the steam engine. The third stage began in the second half of the 20th century in the West where people invented automatic production, robotics and the computer.
Services sector received the great value.
Toffler proposed one criterion for distinguishing between industrial society and post-industrial society: The share of the population occupied in agriculture versus the share of city labor occupied in a services sector.
In a post-industrial society, the share of the people occupied in agriculture doesn't exceed 15%, and the share of the people occupied in a city labor services sector exceeds 50%. Thus, the share of the people occupied with brainwork greatly exceeds the share of the people occupied with physical work in post-industrial society.
