Are we approaching a mutation in higher education? — from changinghighereducation.com by Lloyd Armstrong, University Professor and Provost Emeritus at the University of Southern California
As mass consumption gives way to the wants of individuals, a historic transition in capitalism is unfolding.
So begins an interesting article in a recent McKinsey Quarterly written by Shoshana Zuboff. Zuboff’s premise is straightforward:
Every century or so, fundamental changes in the nature of consumption create new demand patterns that existing enterprises can’t meet. When a majority of people want things that remain priced at a premium under the old institutional regime—a condition I call the “premium puzzle”—the ground becomes extremely fertile for wholly new classes of competitors that can fulfill the new demands at an affordable price.