THE CONCEPT OF POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY AND ITS FLAWS (Koncept postindustrialni spolecnosti a jeho slabiny)

The paper deals with some concepts which are used to grasp our social reality. The author confronts optimistic visions regarding the character of post-industrial society with the reality of deindustrialisation. He describes three main causes of the deindustrialization and observes the contradictions between their impacts and expectations that have been formulated by authors of the vision of post-industrial society. This tension is briefly illustrated in the following areas: demographic development, labour market, family and household, social structure, a tendency towards social segregation and social problems. The author deals with the key concept of the service society. The theory of post-industrial society is based on the finding that employment in the tertiary sector is larger than in the industrial sector. Many original expectations of the theorists of the post-industrial society remain disappointed due to the high internal heterogeneity of the service sector and complicated relations between this sector and the industry. The author alerts that the primary function of the service sector remains to serve the industry and the manpower which strongly influence the future of the deindustrialised cities. An attempt is given to specify a typology of services that concretise the author's reasoning. In the conclusion the author analyses the phenomenon of the so called new social risks which were ignored by the conception of post-industrial society.