This comes to point out the fact that in his opinion, it is not the system that changed the world, but rather certain technological inventions, thus the current state of affairs has been seen before. Indeed, the passing from one society to another has been marked by technological impressions. However, this idea cannot be applied to the current situation of the global world because information represents the driving force of the world, regardless of the level of analysis one addresses. The information has led the world towards a communication strategy, a market change that has yet to be seen before at this intensity. Thirdly, he argues that transnational commerce and corporations have been seen before, in the middle of the 20th century, "when catastrophic talk of globalization was almost unknown" (Touraine, 1998, 13). Surely the increase of trade is, as the author points out, a sign of the progress of modernity. Yet, the extent to which it developed crosses any predictions. Moreover, in the early days of capitalism, the agents of trade were the national states. Today, it can be clearly said that the true agents of trade are a type of organisms which do not belong to the national state which are the transnational corporations. This structure is indeed a new type of...

However, in a global world as the one we are living in today, the socialist aspects of the economy cannot be seen as appropriate; taking into account the fact that socialism promotes a spirit of control over the economy the free market cannot fully exercise its attributions. Therefore, he considers the matter of the "two and a half way" in a distorted manner precisely because he views the current reality as an old one; still, the globalised world will make its own mechanisms that in time will provide the necessary resources to help all those impoverished.
Overall, from analyzing several aspects of Touraine's theory, it can be said that the world we live in today is indeed a new step in the history of the human kind, one which needs creative solutions, not a combination of old theoretical practices.

Bibliography

Touraine, Alain. Beyond Neoliberalism. Trans. David Macey. Cambridge: Polity,…