Alvin Toffler
Alvin Toffler (1928–2016) was a notable American writer and futurist, best known for his influential works on the impact of technology on society. He was born in New York City and attended New York University, although he left without graduating to work in the Midwest. Toffler gained experience as a writer for a union newspaper and later as a labor columnist for Fortune magazine, where he expanded his focus to include business and management topics. His collaborations with his wife, Heidi, led to seminal publications such as "Future Shock" (1970), which examined the psychological effects of rapid change in the modern world, coining the term "future shock" to describe the disorientation that arises from too many choices.
Toffler categorized societal evolution into three waves: the agricultural "First Wave," the industrial "Second Wave," and the information-driven "Third Wave." He argued that the Third Wave is characterized by flexibility and diversity, enabling individuals to construct their identities through varied experiences and connections. While acknowledging the potential for confusion and instability, Toffler viewed this shift as an opportunity for liberation and personal growth. His later works, including "The Third Wave" (1980) and "Powershift" (1990), further explored these themes, emphasizing the necessity for new, decentralized institutions to adapt to changing societal conditions. Toffler's ideas have resonated across political and cultural landscapes, influencing leaders and thinkers throughout his lifetime.
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Subject Terms
Alvin Toffler
Futurist
- Born: October 4, 1928
- Birthplace: New York, New York
Author Profile
Alvin Toffler was born in New York City in 1928 and attended New York University, where he met his wife Heidi. They left school before graduation, however, and moved the Midwestern United States to work on assembly lines. Toffler eventually accepted a position as a writer for the Washington, DC, office of a union newspaper where he reported on congressional and White House news. Toffler and Heidi then moved back to New York City when Toffler was hired by Fortune magazine as a labor columnist. He later expanded his columns to include business and management. When IBM hired Toffler to write a report on the effect of computers on society, he was put in touch with many of the early and original theorists of artificial intelligence. Technology giants AT&T and Xerox later hired him to write similar essays, and in the 1960s, the Tofflers began writing what would be titled Future Shock. Alvin and Heidi collaborated on all of Toffler's published works.
In several prominent works of nonfiction Alvin Toffler has explored the effects of new technologies on human life and society. Earlier civilizations based on agriculture (the “First Wave”) or industry (the “Second Wave”) are now being supplanted by a “Third Wave” of service industries based primarily on knowledge and information, not commodities or products. This Third Wave is characterized by rapid change, flexibility, and diversity. Humans once developed a sense of identity largely from fixed experiences, spending their lives in the same place, at the same job, and within the same traditional family and society. In contemporary society, however, people increasingly move and change their jobs regularly while living in a variety of nontraditional family and social structures.
Many decry this loss of permanence in human life, but Toffler sees it as an opportunity. No longer chained to their original set of circumstances and enjoying access to millions of people via modern transportation and computer networks, people can choose their identities. They may identify themselves by associating with ethnic or cultural groups, with organizations of professionals or hobbyists, with religions, or with social movements. If people are unhappy with their families, jobs, or groups, they can leave them and seek other alternatives. The danger is that such an extreme variety of choices may be psychologically disturbing, even paralyzing, inducing what Toffler terms “future shock”; but people must adjust to this freedom because returning to previous, fixed values and situations is impossible.
Toffler's seminal work, Future Shock (1970), focuses most on the problems—and possibilities—facing contemporary people; Toffler’s other studies of coming changes in business and government, notably The Third Wave (1980) and Powershift (1990), also involve questions of identity. These books describe the flexible, decentralized, and democratic institutions that will necessarily evolve in response to new conditions. Toffler regularly argues that new technologies will liberate, not enslave, people, and he has enjoyed growing influence. In the 1980s, he met with Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, and in the 1990s, his works were often cited by Newt Gingrich, who introduced an anthology of Toffler’s writings.
Bibliography
Daspin, Eileen. “Alvin Toffler: Riding the Third Wave.” Management Review 74, no. 5 (May, 1985): 57–9. Print.
Osiatynski, Wiktor. Contrasts: Soviet and American Thinkers Discuss the Future. New York: Macmillan, 1984. Print.
Platt, Charles. “Alvin Toffler.” In Dream Makers: The Uncommon Men and Women Who Write Science Fiction. New York: Berkeley Publishing Group, 1983. Print.
Ruck, Julian. "Alvin Toffler." Llanelli Star. Local World, 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.
Toffler, Alvin. "Revolutionary Wealth." New Perspectives Quarterly 30.4 (2013): 122–30. Print.