Spreminjanje družbene strukture in vseživljenjsko izobraževanje – Iz industrijske v družbo znanja

Social structures are changing. The industrial society is a hierarchical pyramid with separate social classes and the law of limited social mobility. The social status tended to be stable and was transmitted from parents to children. The information society, the knowledge society, the society in change and the risk society, is a turmoil of centripetal and centrifugal social forces. The social status of each individual, ranging from the highest ­ with their place in the very heart of the society­ to the lowest, is temporary. The main production resource in the accelerated economy of the information society is knowledge. Renewing competences is essential in order to preserve one’s social status in the social spiral; lagging behind in knowledge and in personal growth , on the other hand, shoves one off to the margins of society. The way back up to a more prestigious position can be achieved through education. Education systems differ from state to state. Some are losing their legitimacy since they fail to train young people for new methods of work and survival; they are an obstacle to the development of the most immanent properties in the new society, as e.g., innovativeness, independence, decision­making ability, creativity. If young people drop out from school too early, before they complete a four­year secondary school, they are surrendered to the street and crime. Manual workers are being discarded on a large scale to find themselves on the margins of society, among the "service proletariat" depending on the handouts of the welfare state. Whereas the GNP is increasing, the wealth redistribution stick to the old formulas and are widening the gap between the poor and the rich. The information society is opening up countless new opportunities, but it is also bringing new responsibilities. Work is becoming more humane, with the "brain" winning over "brawn"