1st Edition

The Third Revolution Professional Elites in the Modern World

By Harold Perkin Copyright 1996
    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume examines the leading professional societies since World War II - those in the free market economies of the United States, Britain, France, West Germany and Japan, and those in the collapsed command economies of East Germany and the Soviet Union. It praises their achievements, but also warns of the greed and corruption of their elites, aking whether corruption rather than ideology caused the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and if Anglo-American capitalism is likely to go the same way.

    Preface 1 THE THIRD SOCIAL REVOLUTION 2 THE UNITED STATES: A FREE MARKET FOR CORPORATIONS 3 BRITAIN: KEYSTONE OF THE ARCH 4 FRANCE: A PLANNED MERITOCRACY 5 GERMANY: TWO VERSIONS OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY 6 SOVIET RUSSIA: GULLIVER’S GIANT 7 JAPAN: A FLOATING WORLD 8 TOWARDS A GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY. EPILOGUE: WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

    Biography

    Harold Perkin is Professor of History and Higher Education at Northwestern University. Among his books are The Origins of Modern English Society, 1780–1880 (1969) and The Rise of Professional Society (1989).

    'His learned and passionate book clearly deserves to be the next important text in the stakeholding debate.' – The Guardian

    'Path-breaking study of the contrasts and similarities between the managerial elites of the US, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the former GDR and the former Soviet Union ... a rich and subtle book.' – Prospect