We might call the passage from the second paradigm to the third, from the domination of industry to that of services and information, a process of economic postmodernisation, or better, informatisation. Economic modernisation involves the passage from the first paradigm to the second, from the dominance of agriculture to that of industry. The dominant position has thus passed from primary to secondary to tertiary production. It has now become common to view the succession of economic paradigms since the Middle Ages in three distinct moments, each defined by the dominant sector of the economy: a first paradigm in which agriculture and the extraction of raw materials dominated the economy, a second in which industry and the manufacture of durable goods occupied the privileged position, and a third and current paradigm in which providing services and manipulating information are at the heart of economic production. The bad news is that no one has any idea what that means. The good news from Washington is that every single person in Congress supports the concept of an information superhighway. The concept, if there’s one, has to come at the end, and not at the beginning, of our discussions of it. Postmodernism is not something we can settle once and for all and then use with a clear conscience. Published: Harvard University Press, 2000 Empire by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri s.
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