Toffler’s Wave Theory

1. 1900 to the Future Toffler’s Wave Theory Barb Wilkison EDUC 7100 2012

2. In his 1980 book The Third Wave, Alvin Toffler presented his theory that our development as a society has evolved through three waves. • The Agricultural Wave • The Industrial Wave • The Information Wave • He also proposed a fourth wave, Communication • A summary of Toffler’s theory may be found by clicking on the book. • This presentation will illustrate each of those waves in terms of the following strands: • Technology • Work • Education • Society and Culture • Journalism

3. Toffler’s Waves By Suggested Time Periods: • Agricultural Wave 8000 BC-1750 • Industrial Age 1750-1950 • Information Age 1950-2000 • Communication Age 2000-? For this project I will be focusing on the four waves from the year 1900 forward.

4. There is overlapping during each of the four waves. One wave does not stop suddenly one year and the next wave start up the next. I have chosen to focus on the decades when each wave was most prominent.

5. The Agricultural Wave 1900-1910 Technology • Thomas Edison invents first talking motion picture. • Mass-Production causes prices to fall to all time low. • 1903-Wright Brothers’ first flight • 1903-Crayons are invented. • Hand-cranked VictrolaIntroduced. Average worker made $12.98/week for 59 hours Work Society and Culture • Farming is a primary source of family income. • Early factories are dirty and unsafe, with long hours and little pay. • Only 19% of women in the workforce. • Average worker makes $12.95 a week for 59 hours. • 1902-The birth of the Teddy Bear • 1906-Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle 1912-The Titanic sinks. • 1914-The Panama Canal opens. • Nickelodeons are the rage, pay a nickel to see a film at an arcade. • Barbershop quartets popular. Education Journalism • Most children educated in one-room schools. • Annual teacher pay is $325, • 1904-Mary Beth Bethune, an African American educator, founds the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. • Newspapers begin to offer commentary on the news, often with political cartoons. • Newspapers change to a 4-column, tabloid style layout.

6. The Agricultural Wave 1910-1920 Technology • 1914-first moving assembly line • 1919-Pop-up toaster is invented. • Mass production of cars creates nationwide prosperity. • Small size Kodak camera make picture taking easier. • Gas Tractors come into use. 1912 Work Society and Culture • 145 women killed in Triangle Shirt Factory fire. • Labor unions grow as middle class becomes discontented with working conditions and pay. • Unemployment rate 5.2% • 1916-Norman Rockwell paints first cover for Saturday Evening Post. • 1920-Women gain the right to vote. • Divorce rate is 1/1000. • Jim Thorpe wins gold medal at Olympics. • Girl Scouts of America founded. Education Journalism • 1911-First Montessori school opens in US. • 1913- Thomas Edison says, “In the future books will be obsolete in the classroom.” • During WWI War and Navy Departments use film to train officers and inform public. • Less than 10% high school graduation rate. • Newspapers are a source of activism for political parties and for social equality.  • Ethnic newspapers reach peak with over 1323 foreign language publications. • Tabloid journalism charts a new era of sensationalism focusing on sex and crime.

7. The Industrial Wave 1920-1930 Technology Boeing 727 1925 • Robert Goddard  invents liquid-fueled rockets. • 1930-Birdseye patents frozen food process. • Charles Lindberg, first trans-Atlantic flight. • Synthetic materials such as plexiglassand nylon are developed. Work Society and Culture • One farmer supplies 9.8 people in US and world. • 1929-Stock Market Crashes. • Six million American families earn less than $1000 a year. • Labor strikes break out, pitting coal miners and railroad men against their powerful employers. • 1929 Stock Market Crashes, Great Depression begins. • 1921-First Miss America Contest • Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. • Harlem Renaissance Movement Education Journalism • The first regular commercial radio broadcasts begin when AM station KDKA of Pittsburgh delivers results of the Harding-Cox election to its listeners.  • Henry Luce creates newsmagazine with Time. • 1925-35 Educational Radio emerges. • SAT first administered. • 1929-John Piaget publishesThe Child’s Conception of the World. • 1925-Scopes trial makes teaching evolution illegal.

8. The Industrial Wave 1930-1940 Technology Philco TV 1935 • 1930-Scientists discover Pluto • 1928-First Xerography prototype • 1939-Electron Microscope invented. • 1939-Television set displayed at World’s Fair. Work Society and Culture • Conventional roles of men as breadwinners and women as homemakers. • Unemployment rate is 25%. • Dust Bowl farmers head west to find better opportunities. • Movie goers enjoy Bob Hope, Marx Brothers and WC Fields. • 1933 First drive-in movie theater opens. • Hitler comes to power in Germany. • Batman and Superman first appear in comic books. • 1938-Edward R. Murrow broadcasts from Vienna. Marks beginning of the broadcast news correspondent. • Picture magazines such as Life become popular, greater opportunity for photo journalists. Journalism Education • 1930-On February 3, some 1.5 million schoolchildren listen to the first educational radio broadcast, transmitted on CBS by the American School of the Air. • 1931-First Dick and Jane reading primers. • 1939-Weschlers IQ test developed.

9. The Industrial Wave 1940-1950 Technology Female steel workers don oxygen masks. WWII • 1946 -First microwave oven invented. • 1941-Aerosol cans invented. • Radio and Television become major providers of news and entertainment. • 1945-A digital computer named ENIAC is introduced. It was two stories high and weighed 30 tons. Work Society and Culture • The exodus of women in the workplace begins-they are needed to replace men who have gone to war. • 1950-31% of women work outside the home. • As men return from the war, having seen the world, the farm is no longer the ideal. • 1941-Japanese attack Pearl Harbor • 1945 First Flu Vaccine administered. • 1943-Slinky is invented. • 1949-First cake mixes available in stores. • 1945- United States drops two atomic bombs on Japan -- one at Hiroshima, one at Nagasaki, that claim more than 100,000 lives.  Journalism Education • Movie theaters show newsreels before feature films. • Office of Censorship enforces strict regulations on news releases. • The Federal Communication Commission forbade the creation of new radio and television stations during the war years. • 1945-GI Bills gives returning servicemen college scholarships. • 1947-First text films- to supplement textbooks. • 1948-Educational Testing Service created.

10. The Information Wave 1950-1960 Technology • 1950-First Xerox machine invented. • 1951-Charles Ginsburg invents first video tape.  • 1952-Univac mainframe computer used by CBS to predict presidential election. • 1958-First transistors in computers, smaller, more reliable Work Society and Culture • 1955-Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat. • 1957-Federal troops integrate Little Rock schools. • 1958-BankAmericard issues first bank credit card. • 1959-First Barbie Doll sold. • Bomb shelter plans available from government. • Average salary in 1950 is $2992 • Americans begin buying goods not available during the war, which creates corporate expansion and jobs. Education • People begin to turn to television for their news, as an alternative to newspapers. • Walter Cronkite named as CBS news commentator. • Magazines begin creating audiences for specialized publications. Journalism • 1950-filmstrips,16mm films come to the classroom. • 1953-B.F.Skinner’s behaviorist theories begin to influence American education. • 1954-Brown vs. Board of Education • 1956-Bloom’s Taxonomy published. • 1957-Sputnik launched, US feels pressure to stress math and science in schools.

11. The Information Wave 1960-1970 Technology • 1961-Alan Shepard becomes first man in space. • 1964- Smaller computer microchip components. • 1965- CD invented • 1967-First hand-held calculator • 1969-Artificial heart invented Society and Culture Work • 1961-Oral Contraceptives available for first time. • 1963-President John F. Kennedy assassinated. • 1969-Valium developed • 1968-Martin Luther King assassinated. • 1960-Average pay has risen to $4943. • 1963-Equal Pay Act mandates equal pay for equal work. • Cesar Chavez organizes Hispanic workers in the United Farm Workers Union. Journalism Education • Investigative reporters begin uncovering information about activities of government and other high –profile groups. • By the 1960s,it has become important to get fresh images of events into the news every evening. The broadcast of disturbing footage from Vietnam on television gives the public a taste of the horrors of war, and swayed public opinion. • CAI begins to be used in the classroom. • 1965-Head Start program starts. • 1966-Jerome Brunner publishes Toward a Theory of Instruction, more support for cognitivism. • 1968-Supreme Court rules teaching of Evolution is legal.

12. The Information Wave 1970-1980 Technology • 1971-Dot Matrix printer is introduced, as well as the VCR. • 1974-The microcomputer in use. • Personal computers affordable-TRS 80, Commodore, Apple II • 1975-Laser printer available • MRI technology developed to aid in diagnosis. Teletype Machine 1975 Work Society and Culture • Affirmative Action becomes a controversial policy as minorities and women assert their rights to jobs. • 1979-Average salary $7554. • The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. • Wade invalidates state laws that make abortion illegal. • 1974-President Richard Nixon resigns after Watergate. • 1977-Elvis Presley dies. Education Journalism • Mandatory busing mandated to achieve integration of schools. • 1975- PL94-192 Education of Handicapped Children becomes federal law. • 1983-Howard Gardner introduces his Multiple Intelligence theory. • 1983- A Nation at Risk is published. • 1972-Woodward & Bernstein uncover Watergate scandal. • Pentagon Papers leaked to the New York Times. • Because of a rising mistrust of the media, many major journalistic organizations and individual news organizations establish codes and standards.

13. The Communication Wave 1980-1990 Technology • 1980-Doppler Radar Invented. • 1981-IBM Pc is introduced. • 1981-NASA successfully launches and lands its reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle. • 1984-Apple introduces the Mac computer. • 1985-Microsoft gives us Windows. Society and Culture Work • When Rock Hudson dies from an AIDS-related illness in 1985,the disease became a matter of great national concern.  • 1981-MTV air first music video. • Video gaming becomes popular with Nintendo, PacMan, and Gameboy. • 1980-Average salary $15,757. Minimum wage is $3.10. • 1990-57% of all women are in the work force. • Two-earner families more prominent than in any previous decade. Education Journalism • Schools are investing heavily in microcomputers. • Middle school concept developed to address needs of adolescents. • 1980-Department of Education Created. • Teacher exams become a requirement for graduation with education degrees. • There is a rise in women such as Barbara Walters and Connie Chung in the media. • New technologies such as cable television, led to expansion and the creation of new networks such as CNN and Fox. 

14. The Communication Wave 1990-2000 Technology • 1990-The World Wide Web and HTML are born. • 1996-Dolly the sheep is cloned. • 1999-The Hubble Telescope is launched. • 1998-Google introduces search engine. The First Palm 1995 Work Society and Culture • 1990-Minium wage is $5.15/hr. • 1993-Congress passes Family Leave Act. • Booming economy leads to record low unemployment rates. • 1995-Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is bombed. • 1998-Viagra hits the pharmacies. • 2000-12 billion emails a day are sent in US. • Tickle-Me-Elmo and Beanie Babies hit the market. Education Journalism • 1991-Smart Technologies introduces its interactive white board. • 1993-Jones International University becomes first to exist completely online. • ERIC database goes online. • 1999-83.5% of students complete high school. • Ritilin became drug of choice as more students are labeled ADD or ADHD. • 2000-More families subscribe to internet services than newspapers. • U.S. newspaper advertising peaks At $49 billion. • More Than 4,000 newspapers publishing online.

15. The Communication Wave 2000-2010 Technology • 2000-The Human Genome is decoded. • 2001-Apple introduces the iPhone. • 2003-Toyota invents the hybrid car. • 2004-Web2.0 emerges. • 2007-Amazon releases the Kindle 2010 Work Society and Culture • Work is often done by teams rather that individuals. • Stability of work may be at an all-time low. Mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, outsourcing, and radically changing technologies have all made the idea of “life-long employment” at one company, or even in one occupation, much less likely than in earlier times. 9-11-01 Terrorists Attack World Trade Center. 2003-US invades Iraq. 2005-YouTube is introduced. 2005-Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans. 2009-Barak Obama sworn in as first black president of the US. Education Journalism • Nov. 5, 2008-Newspapers Sell Out Of Obama Election Front Pages • 2008-The Pulitzer Prize journalism competition is broadened to include online-only publications primarily devoted to original news reporting. • 2009-70% of journalists use social networking for reporting. • 2001-No Child Left Behind Act approved by Congress. • 2009-Common Core initiative begins. • Students interact with peers around the world via Skype, video conferencing, and distance learning.

16. The Communication Wave 2010-Future Technology • Micro-submarines being developed to clean up oil spills. • A way to reverse global warming? Study finds room to store CO2 underground. • World’s first synthetic organ transplant X-Box Kinect Work Society and Culture • People are able to telecommute, thanks to internet, Skype, and improved communications. • The U.S. workforce will continue to increase in size, but at a considerably slower rate, while the composition will shift toward a more balanced distribution by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. • New treatments for obesity • Researchers predict artificial kidney by 2021 • Researchers predict white people will be in the minority by 2042. Education Journalism • Textbooks available in e-reader online, and CD formats. • Higher learning degrees available online. • Video conferencing allows students to interact with classes around the world. • More online collaboration with classmates. • Television stations now broadcast in digital format only. • Print newspaper circulation continues to fall. • Some predict that television and radio will • experience what newspapers are experiencing now.