Table Of ContenthKNOWLEDGE AND ECONOMIC CONDUCTh
The Social Foundations of the Modern Economy
Examining the foundations of the modern capitalist economy from a
broad social scientific perspective, this challenging work posits that
changing economic circumstances - namely, an end to the primacy of
labour and property as determinants of prosperity - have created a
need for a new theoretical platform, one that transcends standard
economic discourse.
In Nico Stehr's view, knowledge is now the most significant source
of economic growth - the 'prime productive factor.' This shift to a
knowledge-based society, however, is a source of some uncertainty
and apprehension. Will it bring a more sustainable, less ecologically
disruptive form of production, or escalating levels of unemployment?
What are the practical social, political, and economic implications of
the new technology? What are the possibilities for social action in a
context where such possibilities are being limited? Stehr proposes that a
new social science agenda is needed to address these and other urgent
questions arising from the new economic realities.
Knowledge and Economic Conduct is essential reading for students
and social scientists with an interest in technology, globalization, and
the changing economy, as well as for researchers and policy makers
within both the public and private sectors.
NICO STEHR is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Alberta.
During the 2000/2001 academic year, he held fellowships at the Hanse
Centre for Advanced Studies and the Centre for Advanced Cultural
Studies in Germany.
Studies in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy
Editors: Michael Hewlett, David Laycock, Stephen McBride,
Simon Fraser University
Studies in Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy is designed to
showcase innovative approaches to political economy and public
policy from a comparative perspective. While originating in Canada,
the series will provide attractive offerings to a wide international
audience, featuring studies with local, subnational, cross-national, and
international empirical bases and theoretical frameworks.
Editorial Advisory Board
Colin Bennett, University of Victoria
William Carroll, University of Victoria
William Coleman, McMaster University
Barry Eichengreen, University of California (Berkeley)
Jane Jenson, Universite de Montreal
Rianne Mahon, Carleton University
Lars Osberg, Dalhousie University
Jamie Peck, Manchester University
John Ravenhill, University of Edinburgh
Robert Russell, University of Saskatchewan
Grace Skogstad, University of Toronto
Rand Smith, Lake Forest College
Kent Weaver, Brookings Institution
Knowledge and
Economic Conduct
The Social Foundations of the
Modern Economy
NICO STEHR
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2002
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-0905-0 (cloth)
ISBN 0-8020-7886-9 (paper)
Printed on acid-free paper
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Stehr, Nico
Knowledge and economic conduct: the social foundations of the
modern economy
(Studies in comparative political economy and public policy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8020-0905-0 (bound). ISBN 0-8020-7886-9 (pbk.)
1. Information technology - Economic aspects. 2. Knowledge
workers. 3. Information society. 4. Economic theory - 1990- .
HC79.I55S72 2002 330.9'049 C2001-904246-9
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities
and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
The University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to
its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction: The Social Sciences, the Economy, and Politics 3
1 Economic Activities and Social Action 10
2 Knowledge as a Productive Factor 16
3 Knowledge Societies 63
4 The Modern Economy 74
5 The Future of Work? 93
6 The Changing Economic Structure of Society 186
7 Globalization, Information, and Knowledge 202
8 Economy and Ecology 213
9 Prospects: The Fragility of the Future 231
Appendix 237
Notes 243
References 307
Name Index 349
Subject Index 358
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Tables and Figures
Tables
1. The knowledge-based economy, 1995-1996 xv
4.1. Percentage of gross domestic product generated by
manufacturing activity, 1978-1994 83
4.2. Percentage of administrative, technical and clerical workers in
manufacturing industries, Canada, United States, Japan,
Denmark, and United Kingdom, 1962-1990 85
5.1. Annual unemployment rates for selected industrial countries,
1960-1999 123
5.2. Aggregate hours of work by economic sector in Germany,
1960-1997 125
5.3. Youth (15-24 years of age) unemployment as a percentage of the
total unemployment by gender in 1996 for selected industrial
countries 127
5.4. Long-term unemployment in industrialized countries: percentage
of unemployed workers out of work for more than 12 months
1973-1998 128
5.5. Employment growth at manufacturing plants, 1982-1987:
plants grouped by size and technology use (percentage change
in employment) 131
5.6. Percentage of the U.S. labour force participating in knowledge-
producing activities, 1900-1980 151
5.7. Technology use, education, wages, and occupation at U.S.
manufacturing plants, 1988-1990 177
viii Tables and Figures
6.1. Total annual paid vacations and holidays (industrial sector) in
working days, for selected countries, 1985,1991, and 1995 189
6.2. Agreed annual hours of work in collective agreements for
workers in the industrial sector, 1983-1995 190
7.1. Hourly wages in selected OECD countries in German marks,
1998: (A) based on actual exchange rates; (B) purchasing power
parity in relation to the gross domestic product 206
Al. Materials used in a car, 1985 and 1990 237
A2. Total labour force and total employment and female labour
force participation rates for selected industrial countries,
1960-1990 238
A3. Alternative unemployment (including half the persons working
part-time for economic reasons and discouraged workers)
indicator for selected countries, 1983-1993 239
A4. Long-term unemployment 1980,1984, and 1995 240
A5.1. Correlation coefficients between growth of gross national
product for selected countries 1920-1938,1948-1962, and
1963-1987 240
A5.2. Correlation coefficients between rate of unemployment for
selected countries, 1920-1938,1948-1962, and 1963-1987 240
A5.3. Correlation coefficients between long-term interest rates for
selected countries, 1920-1938,1948-1962, and 1963-1987 241
Figures
8.1. Dematerializing the economy 226
8.2. The cultural transformation of modern society 228
8.3. Reconciling human well-being and ecological carrying 228
Al. Citations of'global'vs'local'in the periodical literature 241
A2. Citations of 'global' vs 'local' in the book/monograph
literature 242
Preface
There is a peculiar reluctance among the opinion leaders of the domi-
nant social institutions in modern society, as well as in some of the
academic literature, to recognize that there are new economic realities.
New phenomena require new perspectives. My attempt to examine the
foundations of the modern (capitalist) economy from a broad social
scientific perspective, rather from than a platform that is bound by
more restricted disciplinary and intellectual traditions, is not, however,
an effort to present yet again the argument that economists perceive
economic phenomena from a narrow point of view.1 As a matter of fact,
this is the case; and it is unavoidable. My objective is not, therefore, to
enlarge the disciplinary tradition of economic discourse. It is more
radical: to develop a new platform, one that is forced on us by the
economic circumstances themselves.2
A new agenda for social science is needed because the age of labour
and property is at an end. The (economic) returns on labour, land, and
capital stock are declining.3 Work is not at an end, but the nature and
the volume of required labour are changing rapidly. Labour increas-
ingly does not involve making and moving things or processing mat-
ter and energy. The traditional forces of production are no longer the
motor of economic growth and value-adding activities.4 Nor are the
conventional productive means the source of any sustainable eco-
nomic activity,5 let alone economic growth. By the same token, the
centrality of the conventional forces of production to the self-concep-
tion of individuals and groups in modern society is diminishing as
rapidly as their 'profitability/ The transformations of the economy as
a consequence of the growing importance of knowledge go far be-
yond the mere emergence of the 'knowledge company' as discussed
