Technology and culture Book Reviews 469 ing commercial technologies. Inaccurate history continues to be a major feature of the controversy. Read this book! Robert W. Rycroft Dr. Rycroft is associate professor at the Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University. The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselvesfor 21st-Century Capitalism. By Robert B. Reich. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991. Pp. xii + 315; notes, index. $24.00. In 1953 Charles Wilson, president of General Motors, was nomi nated by President Dwight Eisenhower to become Secretary of De fense. During confirmation hearings, Wilson was asked whether there might arise a conflict of interest with his governmental duties. He replied unabashedly, “I cannot conceive of one because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big. It goes with the welfare of the country” (p. 48). In retrospect this is an important early warning of the rising military-industrial complex that Eisenhower would discover after two terms in office. However, the apparent sincerity of Wilson’s sentiments speak just as powerfully to the pervasiveness of the corporate-state mentality of the time. More recently we are hearing the incessant preaching of the “national competitiveness” gospel, calls for more aggressive trade policies, the clearing away of troubling regulations, the reduction of corporate taxes, and the encouragement of government subsidies for industry consortia. These calls should give us pause. The power of such rhetoric, claims Robert Reich, derives from vestigial thinking. It was fair enough to equate the health of core corporations with the incomes of Americans through the postwar period and as recently as the early 1970s, but no longer. The first part of The Work of Nations is devoted to sketching the historical development of the concept of economic nationalism, from mercantilism to industrialism and colonialism and continuing through the politically and economically dominant roles of the American megaindustries during the Cold War. The second section details the trends of the last two decades, where major industries no longer find their sole labor pools or markets at home, but instead develop products through the complex ventures and contracting arrangements Reich calls global webs. It is through the weight of evidence here, demonstrating that the fortunes of large corporations have become effectively divorced from the standard of living of the domestic work force, that the author sets the stage for a new model describing how the citizens of developed countries earn their livings, 470 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE what that concept bodes for the future, and what public decisions are implied for a just society. Part 3 redefines the national work force within this much more fluid model of corporate activity, and here the author posits three func tional groups: routine production work, in-person services, and symbolic analysis. The symbolic analysts are those who are paid to think creatively. Reich liberally includes in this group scientists and engineers, financial analysts, the artistic and business ends of the entertainment industry, the legal profession, many in higher educa tion, and, basically, anyone else whose primary means of income falls outside the activities of the other two groups. In this formulation the symbolic analysts are also those 20 percent of Americans with the highest incomes, and the divergence between their cumulative wealth and the other four-fifths of the wage earners has been widening for the past two decades. The work of symbolic analysts is characterized by associational networks and frequent clustering in choice locales, such as research corridors, with access to the intellectual resources of major universi ties. These professionals are the workers least dependent on the continuing patronage of a single firm and can most easily afford to relocate to suit their personal tastes. Symbolic analysts are less dependent than their compatriots on public transportation and other elements of infrastructure, given the intellectual/informational qual ity of their work and their broad access to powerful telecommunica tions technologies. More disturbing, however, is the de facto secession of this segment of society from all others, leaving the remaining 80 percent to fend for themselves in securing any advantage that might propel...