Bell, Daniel

Daniel Bell (b. 1919) is best known for the conception of postindustrial society found in The Coming of Post-Industrial Society (1973) and for the analysis of contemporary culture found in The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (1976). These are two major case studies in Bell's larger project to theorize macro-social organization. Bell argues that the integration of the three major realms of society—the techno-economic sphere, the polity, and the culture—is not more common historically than a disjuncture between realms. Bell's position contrasts sharply with functionalism and Marxism, both of which emphasize as the typical condition the integration of society in relation either to consensus values and norms (as in the case of functionalism) or a dominant mode of production (as in the case of Marxism). Bell's ...