The Information Revolution Return to Sociology Timeline

The Information Revolution


The Information Revolution is a phrase we use to refer to the dramatic changes taking place during the last half of the 20th century in which service jobs (ranging from high technology, highly skilled professions to low-skill jobs like short-order cook) are more common than jobs in manufacturing or agriculture. The product of skilled professionals is the information or knowledge they provide.

The information revolution began with the invention of the integrated circuit or computer chip. Those chips have revolutionized our lives, running our appliances, providing calculators, computers, and other electronic devices to control our world.

It is still early enough that no one knows precisely what all of the implications of the information revolution will be for social life. But clearly changes such as the information superhighway permitting people to communicate using computers all around the globe, fax machines, satellite dishes, and cellular phones are changing how families spend their time, the kind of work we do, and many other aspects of our lives.

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