Page 166 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

information societies 985

An example of the mas-
sive industrial expan-
sion currently taking
place in China. China is
the world’s largest ex-
panding market, as well
as the largest country
and so is, today, a hub-
bub of construction.

reinforced each other for the
past two centuries.Technology
has enriched science as science
has enriched technology, creat-
ing a positive “feedback loop,”
which thus far has shown no
signs of slowing down.
The continued progress in
industrial technology has been
a major—if not the only—
reason for the sharp rise in per
capita income in the industri-
Polanyi, M. (1962). Personal knowledge:Towards a post-critical philoso-
alized world. The diffusion of these techniques to non-
phy. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Western nations, however, has been highly uneven and Rosenberg, N. (1976). Perspectives on technology. Cambridge, UK:
ranges from the sensational successes of Japan and South Cambridge University Press.
Rosenberg, N. (1982). Inside the black box: Technology and economics.
Korea to the dismal failures of Haiti and Somalia. Dis- Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
crepancies like this are crucial to understanding many of Wrigley, E.A. (1988). Continuity, chance and change:The character of the
industrial revolution in England. New York: Cambridge University
the world’s contemporary economic problems. Clearly
Press.
two elements stand out: the ability of a society to adopt
more advanced industrial techniques from the West (that
is, the competence of the local workers and managers to
digest and execute the instructions contained in them),
and the friendliness of the institutional environment to Information
the adoption of more advanced techniques.
Societies
Joel Mokyr
ll societies are information societies in some deep
Further Reading Asense. One of the most fundamental properties of
Basalla, G. (1988). The evolution of technology. Cambridge, UK: Cam- human social existence is distributed knowledge. While
bridge University Press. knowledge resides, in the final analysis, only in the
Cowan, R., & Foray, D. (1997). The economics of codification and the
diffusion of knowledge. Industrial and Corporate Change 6(3), 595– human brain, it needs to be shared with others and dis-
622. tributed in order to be effective.To put it simply, no one
Mokyr, J. (1990). The lever of riches: Technological creativity and eco- can know everything, and so cooperation between peo-
nomic progress. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mokyr, J. (1994). Progress and inertia in technological change. In J. James ple consists of sharing necessary knowledge. Historically,
and M.Thomas (Eds.), Capitalism in context: Essays in honor of R. M. the fineness of the division of knowledge has been one
Hartwell (pp. 230–254). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mokyr, J. (2002). The gifts of Athena: Historical origins of the knowledge of the main characteristics of commercially and techno-
economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. logically sophisticated societies, and the degree of the