The Third Revolution

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.

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).

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?