Agricultural society entering information society

An information society is a society in which creating, storing, sharing and using information is the main economic and social activity; knowledge is the key source of wealth and power, and most people work in information and service jobs using ICT (computers, internet, mobile phones).

Characteristics: information as the main resource, knowledge workers, ICT in all sectors, globalisation, networked and flexible work, rapid innovation, lifelong learning, and new problems such as the digital divide, cyber crime and loss of privacy.

How agricultural society entered into information society

After the hunting-gathering stage, human society passed through three main stages: agricultural, industrial and information.

Hunting-gathering     stone tools, nomadic
       |
       v
Agricultural          ~10,000 BC: plough, land
       |
       v
Industrial            ~1760: steam, coal, factory
       |
       v
Information           ~1970s: computer, internet

1. Agricultural society (from the Neolithic Revolution, about 10,000 BC)

• Domestication of plants and animals; settled villages; land was the main wealth.
• Tools: plough, sickle, irrigation; energy from humans and animals.
• Feudal social structure; slow change; most people were farmers.

2. Transition to industrial society (from about 1760)

• Agricultural revolution (crop rotation, enclosures, seed drill) increased food and freed labour.
• The Renaissance and Scientific Revolution gave science and a rational mindset.
• Trade and colonies gave capital, raw materials and markets.
• Steam engine, textile machines, iron and coal created factories; people moved to cities as wage workers.
• Capital and machines became the main resources.

3. Transition to information society (from about the 1960s–70s)

• Automation and mass production reduced the need for factory workers; jobs moved to services (banking, education, health, trade).
• Electronics revolution: transistor (1947), IC (1958), microprocessor (1971) and personal computers (1980s).
• Telecommunication: satellites, optical fibre, internet (WWW in 1991), mobile phones and later smartphones.
• Higher education produced knowledge workers; research and software became major industries.
• Globalisation: manufacturing moved to cheaper countries while design, finance and information work stayed in developed ones.

Each stage did not remove the earlier one: farming and industry still exist, but they are now run and improved by information technology (e.g. smart farming, automated factories). Nepal shows a mix of all three stages today.