Three Lectures on Post-Industrial Society

Social inequality is at the center of this illuminating, and notably brief, collection of three lectures on the post-industrial world. French author and professor of economics Cohen (Globalization and Its Enemies) has a surprisingly easy-to-read style, as in a statement from the conclusion: ""we can interpret industrial society as an asymmetric marriage between highly endowed people (engineers) and less well-endowed ones (workers). The engineers gain from this arrangement if the workers are 'nice.'"" He has impressive knowledge of how each country affects many others, demonstrated in his refusal to speak in generalizations or platitudes: ""To speak of a single European social model covering the United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy, and France makes virtually no sense."" It's that careful detail in considering each separate economy that makes this book a small but substantial gem, especially in the standout piece ""The New World Order,"" which cagily explores the nineteenth century's ""first globalization"" in order to explain ""the new international division of labor."" This slim volume will make an important addition to any economics buff's personal or professional library.