Day 1 of my MBA program, I was handed Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock for a reading assignment. It was probably the first nonfiction book I read, and I have never forgotten it. Yes, Future Shock was released in 1970, but believe it or not, most of what it says is still true, especially so in the Indian context.
In Future Shock, author Alvin Toffler talks about change, and how it can be so rapid that we can’t keep up. This change is social, economic and even technological, and it can invade every area of our lives. Culture shock is a huge part of this change, and it is not just the ‘shock’ a South Asian faces when visiting a Western country for the first time.
Future Shock
Author: Alvin Toffler
Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: RHUS; Reissue edition (1 June 1984)
ISBN: 0553277375, 978-0553277371
Culture shock is real because no matter how many Hollywood movies you watch or Friends reruns you laugh at, the real thing is different! And what happens when a person feels overwhelmed by the change around them? This is what Alvin Toffler has talked about in Future Shock in vivid detail.
Culture shock need not be faced only by a person traveling to a different country or different part of the world. Culture shock can happen when a person is displaced for 100 miles. That is what rapid urbanization has given us. The Indian economy has grown very rapidly in the last decade or two. The IT revolution has made people richer at a very fast pace. As a section of society progresses and moves up the food chain, they are naturally going to be replaced by another. Multiplexes and malls have created tons of jobs, and all these are filled by people migrating to the city from rural areas and other parts of the country. Even having to talk with a supervisor of the opposite sex can be a big culture shock to someone who has never had to talk to a stranger. What do people do when faced with so many new things?
Too much change in too little time is how Future Shock can be summed up. Our society is growing very rapidly, trying to keep up the pace with ‘developed’ countries. But there are sections within every society that face change on some level. Earlier, it took maybe a generation for a family’s fortunes to change. Now that can happen in ten years. Like a lottery winner who is overwhelmed by suddenly having millions, rapidly changing social values and perceptions of success can boggle the mind of the most stable person.
Future Shock was relevant in the 1970s when it was written. It seemed relevant when I first read it in the 90s. And it is equally relevant today. If there was one book that you could read about coping with the changes in your life, both desirable and undesirable, this is it. Because reading shows us that we are not alone!
Millions have faced what we are facing today, and many more millions will probably lose sleep over what we are worrying about now.
Check out Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock at any store.