Quotes from book
The New Industrial State

The New Industrial State
John Kenneth Galbraith

The New Industrial State is a 1967 book by John Kenneth Galbraith. Three revised editions appeared in 1972, 1978 and 1985.

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“A drastic reduction in weapons competition following a general release from the commitment to the Cold War would be sharply in conflict with the needs of the industrial system.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXIX, Section 7, p. 339-340

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“While it will be desirable to achieve planned results, it will be even more important to avoid unplanned disasters.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XV, Section 2, p. 169

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“Educators have yet to realize how deeply the industrial system is dependent upon them.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXXIII, Section 4, p. 375

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“The inevitable counterpart of specialization is organization. This is what brings the work of specialists to a coherent result. If there are many specialists, this coordination will be a major task. So complex, indeed, will be the job of organizing specialists that there will be specialists on organization and organizations of specialists on organization. More perhaps than machinery, massive and complex business organizations are the tangible manifestation of advanced technology.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), p. 16

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“Oligopoly is an imperfect monopoly. Like the despotism of the Dual Monarchy, it is saved only by its incompetence.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XVI, Section 2, p. 182

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“There is no name for all who participate in group decision-making or the organization which they form. I propose to call this organization the Technostructure.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter VI, Section 7, p. 71

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“No grant of feudal privilege has ever equaled, for effortless return, that of the grandparent who bought and endowed his descendants with a thousandshares ofGeneral Motors or General Electric.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXXV, Section 3, p. 394

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“By all but the pathologically romantic, it is now recognized that this is not the age of the small man.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter III, Section 5, p. 32

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“The first goal of the technostructure is its own security.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXIII, Section 2, p. 265

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“To add to the technostructure is to increase its power in the enterprise.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXI, Section 2, p. 236

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“If a man be subject to the authority of another, he can at least ask that it not be an occasion for glee.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXV, Section 2, p. 293 (1985)

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“More generally, the individual who gets added income as a result of a general inflationary movement atributes it not to larger economic causes but to his own virtue and diligence.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXII, Section 4, p. 263 (1985)

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“Should there be sacrifice, as always in the mature corporation, it is not suffered by those who agree to it.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXII, Section 4, p. 262 (1985)

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“Nothing so effectively economizes effort and intelligence, as distinct from anxiety, as the knowledge that nothing can be done.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter VIII, Section 1, p. 91 (1985)

John Kenneth Galbraith photo

“We may lay it down as a rule that the older the exercise of any power, the more benign it will appear, and the more recent its assumption, the more unnatural and even dangerous it will seem.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter V, Section 4, p. 58 (1985)