The Changing American Family

27      The energy system is diversifying, shifting from a near-total reliance on fos­sil fuels to new, alternative sources of energy. In the world of work, we see a sim­ilar trend: Older Second Wave industries engaged in mass production—turning out millions of identical items. Newer Third Wave industries, based on comput­ers, numerical controls, and robots, custom-tailor their goods and turn them out in small runs. At the consumer level, we see an increasing variety of products.

28      The same shift toward diversity - is even stronger in communications where the power of the great mass media is increasingly challenged by new "mini­media"—cable television, satellite-based networks, special-interest magazines. This shift toward diversity amounts to the demassification of the media.