PLANNING HISTORY

Assignment-1

Book Review:
The Third Wave
By
Alvin Toffler

Submitted by
Aditya Karan
Section C
M. Plan. Ist Sem

The Third Wave is for those who think the human story, far from ending, has only just
begun"
~Alvin Toffler
This book is writer by Alvin Toffler who is a sociologist and a futurist whose works have
discussed about revolutions on the fronts of communication and technology. This book is a
sequel to his bestseller the future shock. This book is second one in this series as the third
being Power shift:Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century. His
work always tries to relate the social, political and strategic changes to the technological
changes happening around the world.
This book summarizes the past two human civilisations, throws light on its
characteristics and projects the third one which is still unfolding in this ever changing world.
This book revolves around science, computers, society, culture, information patterns etc. but
primarily this book divides the transition of the human history in three different phases and
termed them as waves. This book is a very good read and projects the future closest to the
reality.
About the ever accelerating changes in the human history Alvin Toffler said"...the
agricultural revolution..took thousands of years to play itself out. [The industrial
revolution] took a mere three hundred years. Today history is even more accelerative, and
it is likely that the Third Wave will sweep across history and complete itself in a few
decades". In this book he has explained how changes in some aspects like thinking,
Governance, society norms etc. led to the next wave and pushed back the old one and as he
says here humanity faces a quantum leap forward. It faces the deepest social upheaval
and creative restructuring of all time.The three waves in which Alvin Toffler has divided
are first, second and third waves.
FIRST WAVE:
The first wave is from the start of the human civilisation and ends at the mid1700s.This Wave resembles the agricultural revolution. There was progress in every front in
this wave like there were small mass production factory in Europe there was trade happening
between different parts of the globe but the ideology wasnt that of an industrial revolution as
this wave totally revolved around land, agriculture and basic necessities. But towards the end
of this wave there were strategic changes and inventions which led to the second wave.
The main characteristics of this wave are the society was agricultural based and every
aspect was connected to land like social, economic, politics etc. the society was divided into
some basic classes. The economy in this civilisation was decentralised. The families in this
wave were big (clans) and they totally depended on agriculture for their survival. The main
inventions in this wave were sickles, wedges, levers etc.as these kind of inventions helped
them in exploiting the muscle power of the animals which was the main source of energy.
The trade in this wave was very negligible in the start as the primitive communication and
transportation crippled it and the trade could not grow at a greater pace. The main goods for
the trade were handicraft goods and the surplus produce from the soil. In the Communication
sphere, in the start of this wave the information couldnt be sent to large distances. Then there
were some development like an extensive messenger service by the romans like Curcus
Publicus and pony services in Europe etc. The community was headed by clergy men or the
feudal lords and the society or the community you can say just produced for their families
and these heads of the communities, as the roads and transportation facilities were absent, the
market systems were not developed. But in later stages these developed as the
communication and transportation systems got better. By the end of this wave inventions like

the clock, metallurgy, printing press etc. occurred and the literacy became the new skill which
paved the way for the second wave.
SECOND WAVE:
The second wave was all about industrial revolution which took some three hundred
years to mature completely. In this wave there was a shift towards fossil fuels like coal and
gas as there was a thinking that fossil fuels would be endlessly available and the environment
or the biosphere can take any amount of abuse of pollution. Second wave societies built and
accelerated their economies on this supposition. In this society the word mass was used
with production, communication etc. The introduction of machines led to the formation of
factories (assembly lines as he has explained) and led to industrialisation and eventually led
to different changes in the social, economic and technological spheres of the society and
attacked the mentality of the first wave civilisation. On Industrialisation Toffler says,
Industrialism was more than smokestacks and assembly lines. It was a rich, many-sided
social system that touched every aspect of human life and attacked every feature of the
First Wave past
Some of the characteristics of the second wave civilisation are that there was major
shift to the non-renewable sources of energy. In the society because of industrialisation
mobility was required so there was a birth of Nuclear Families in this wave and even has
explained it as the modern model for the industrial societies. There was the rise of different
institutions in this wave for example the education of the children was done in the schools
which was not done in the first wave society , the old age homes , the lunatic asylums etc.
Due to industrialisation there was a movement of the people to cities to work in the industries
, so all the education was given to the children to get ready for the factory life as the
underlying curriculum was to be punctual, obedient, Preparing them for repetitive work and
labour etc. There was the creation of corporations in this wave and the birth of bureaucracy
occurred in this civilisation because of the Factory and its influence can be seen in various
spheres like the music industry, schools etc. There was an increase in the infrastructure in this
wave like the formation of roads, bridges, canals etc. which led to the better network of the
manufacturers etc. In this wave or civilisation the birth of mass media and advertising
occurred as there was an increased necessity of the distribution of the information and the
increase in the circulation of the newspapers and magazines was evident in this wave. Sexual
Split occurred in this wave as he explains "One of the most common sexual stereotypes in
industrial society defines men as 'objective' in orientation, and women as 'subjective".
There was cleavage between the producer and consumer and divided the society into two
halves. The main characteristic was the rise and spread of imperialism and capitalism, just to
boost their economy there was the formation of colonies of the first wave civilisations by the
second wave civilisations for the extraction of the resources etc. just like in the case of India.
The certain principles (Codes) on which the foundation of the second wave society
was laid where Standardisation, Specialisation, Synchronisation, Concentration,
Maximisation and Centralisation. The society was broken in many parts and there was a need
of integrating in some other form and hence the integrators where the investors, managers,
businessmen and the government which was the Big Co-ordinator.
Some important factors which have paved the way for the third wave which is still In
transition and still unfolding in front of our eyes are, the biosphere getting depleted and
people understanding about the ecological balance, non-renewable resources getting depleted
at a very faster rate, there were pressures generating within the system which stressed up to
its fracture point and the end of colonies which led to scarcity of the cheap raw materials.

THIRD WAVE: The New Synthesis

Third wave according to Alvin Toffler starts from late 1950s and the civilisations
drifting away from second wave mentality is entering into the new phase which author
describes as the third wave. The basic material for this wave is the information and many
sociologists have coined words for the same wave as the information age etc. this wave
instead of based on the manpower is based on the mind or intellect. This wave is actually an
embryo which has come out of the second wave civilisations as the information required was
provided from the last wave only. The third wave societies will be built up on the innovative
ideas, scientific progress, information, storage of the data etc. and can be called as the
advanced or the modern age. In this wave we will talk about the world information order
and we soon we will be suffering from the information overload. The concept of factory on
the second wave civilisation will be dismantled in this society.
Some of the main features of the third wave civilisation are. In this age society will
make use of the renewable sources of energy and the will be more concerned about the
changing environment around him. There will be new inventions in this wave like electronics,
petrochemicals, semiconductors etc. There will be a great advancement in the space industry
as well as the civilisation will be taking more benefits from the sea like the oil reservoirs and
providing enough protein for the whole mankind. A new social memory will be created as the
computers in existence will be helping in storing the data very efficiently and accessing the
data easily without any problem. In the social sphere in this wave, the nuclear family which
was a result of the industrialisation will dismantle and there will be more focus on
individualism. Mother-hood will be diminished and there will be no split on the basis of sex.
Innovation, independent thinking will be rewarded and the rigorous labour, repetitive process,
effect of the industry on various spheres will be negligible. The schools curriculum will
change from the second wave and will be more focussed on the science and development,
free speech, innovative thinking and the children will be given more responsibility at an
earlier age.
The face of industries will change and the most important thing thats flexibility will
come into the picture and the standardisation will be diminished in this wave. There will be
de-massification of the media in this wave it will more like specialised, target oriented media,
which can deal with the special interests of the people. There will be a growth of the gene
industry, biotechnology etc. There will be a transformation of the politics of the civilisation as
the democracy will be evolved in something new as there will be a direct interaction between
the government and the population. There will be changing of the type of economy which
will increase the returns as the economy will change to the network economy. Consumers
will have a greater part in the commodities they buy and there will be no cleavage between
the consumers and producers as in the second wave civilisation and hence there will be a rise
of prosumers in this era. The effect of the bureaucratic institutions will be de-centralised and
in the corporate structures more power will be distributed down the ladder.

INTERPRETATION:
This book by Alvin Toffler The third wave gives the historical overview of our two
previous civilisations and puts light on the future civilisation and their characteristics or
features. The third wave gives the turbulence in our civilisation after the second wave that is
after industrialisation period. Toffler with many other sociologists like Daniel Bell has
described the coming age as the information age. He has expressed history as the succession
of rolling waves which brings the change in the civilisations and the change will occur in
every sphere economic, social, technological, educational etc. He has focussed at the points
where the history is discontinuous as in there has been some major changes at those points.
Alvin Toffler has divided the human history into three continuous which are first, second and
third waves.
The first wave is linked with the agricultural revolution, the second wave represents
the industrial society and the third wave represents the information age that is the postindustrial society. Whenever there is the transition of the societies there comes a very
turbulent period as Alvin Toffler has said, The collision of the wave fronts creates a raging
ocean, full of clashing currents, eddies and maelstroms.
He has briefly talked about the first wave society which is agricultural in nature and
starts 10,000 years ago and is predominant until the mid-1700s he has talked about the
economics, schooling, family structure, and communication etc. of that time.And explains
that everything was dependent on land as every trade was dependent on the materials they
grew. We can also interpret that in these societies the church, clergymen etc. were very
powerful and the cities were planned in such manner like the roman cities in which the
churches where in the centre of the city and all roads led to the church. He says the education
was done at home or by the clergymen of the church and the family (clans) in this civilisation
was a quite a big unit and talks about the primitive communication which crippled the trade,
But after some inventions like the clock, metallurgy, invention of the printing press, invention
of machines etc led to the second wave.
Then he talks about the second wave (industrial revolution) which changes and
attacks every aspect of the first wave civilisation as he says "Industrialism was more than
assembly lines. It was a many-sided social system that touched every aspect of human life
and attacked every feature of the First Wave past... it put the tractor on the farm, the
typewriter in the office, the refrigerator in the kitchen. It produced the daily newspaper
and the cinema. He talks about the how old institutions change under the influence of this
big sweeping change and new set of institutions appear like the schools, asylums, old age
homes etc. He talks about that generation which is obsessed with the clock, which is blindly
obedient and has learnt how to do repetitive jobs. In this wave the use of word mass was
used with many words like communication, production etc. The schools in this phase where
used to cater the demand of the industry as the curriculum was setup like this. Alvin Toffler in
this part understands the Nuclear Family because of the increasing mobility of the society and
also talks about the sexual split in the society. He also says that everything is influenced by
the industries the schools, Government, etc. as Karl Marx says the control will be in that
hands which produce. In this society he talks about the imperial-drive which led to the
colonialism which was just to get the cheap resources. Then he talks about the code of the
second wave society. This wave theory which author has put forward is a very over simplified
view but if we couple it with some views then it can be very useful in reading the changes
happening in the society. In this wave we can interpret the different changes in the planning

of the cities as more and more parts are urbanised in this era and development of different
types of pattern cities came into existence, garden cities etc. in which the cities had to cater
the migrating population of the workers and had to accommodate the industries and cater for
the commercial needs of the city.
Then he talks about the final wave which is in the transition phase right now,
changing the society and unfolding in front of our eyes. He says about the industrial age,
along with its institutions, technologies and its culture.. is now disintegration under the
avalanche of the third wave As this is in transition he talks about the crises in the schools,
corporations etc. He puts forward that the third wave society will have four major areas of
growth. First is the Electronics and Computers he talks about the changes it can bring in the
cost efficiency and the energy efficiency. There is quote from the author from a magazine
If the auto industry had done what the computer industry has done in 30 years, a RollsRoyce would cost $2.50 and get 2,00,000 miles a gallon. This quote explains the
exponential growth of this sector and will help in other sectors as well. The second growth he
has talked about is the space industry and he says "Despite delays, five space shuttles may
soon be moving cargo and people back and forth between the earth and outer space on a
weekly schedule. The impact of this is as yet underestimated by the public, but many
companies in the United States and Europe regard the "high frontier" as the source of the
next revolution in high technology and are acting accordingly. Third area of growth is the
exploitation of the resources of the sea. He says it can end world hunger as it can provide lot
of protein and oil fields can also be cultivated inside them. According to Toffler the gene
industry (biotechnology) will be the forth area of growth in this new third wave. He talks
about the changing mentality from the second wave civilisations as in this civilisation the free
and innovative thinking will be respected. In this wave the old industry will be broken and
new dynamic industries will be created in which the mode of production will be different
from the second wave industries. He has also talked about the demassifcation of the media.
On the social front the families will be reduced more from nuclear families of the
second wave. Motherhood will be diminished and says that individualism will be the new
focus. The schools ideology and curriculum will change and will be based on the modern
ideologies like innovation, science and technology. And in the politics point of view he says
that it will also evolve into something new in which there is a direct interaction between the
state and the people. And he says that the cleavage between the producer and consumer will
be over and the rise of prosumer will be there.
In the end he says that these changes which are occurring are affecting our every
sphere of life like our family life, work, sexual attributes and personal morality. Then Toffler
adds in the end that there is confusion that either we are second wave people or the third
wave people or a confused self-cancelling mixture of the two.
The third wave may be a little out of date, quite a bit too optimistic and little bit over
simplified. But still its the closest thing to reality we have, which forecasts the future.

REFERENCES:
1. The Third wave, Alvin Toffler, 1980.
2. Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1970.
3. Alvin Toffler, Creating a new civilisation: and politics of third wave, Harvard journal
of science of technology.
4. Daniel bell, The coming of post-industrial society, 1973
5. About Alvin Toffler, http://www.egs.edu/library/alvin-toffler/biography/
6. Research Papers the third wave, https://www.papermasters.com/third-wave.html
7. What is the third wave, http://www.cbpp.uaa.alaska.edu/afef/BA635-third-wave.html
8. Alvin Toffler quotes, http://www.egs.edu/library/alvin-toffler/quotes/