The Covid-19 pandemic came just as we were getting used to the entry of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Societies around the globe were adjusting to the new way of life introduced by the digital age. Now, another global shakedown arrived towards the end of 2019. We have to brace ourselves and prepare for massive social changes in South Africa. And the civil society has to be in the forefront of mobilizing the society towards embracing and coping with these changes.
Futurists and market researchers are calling this pandemic the 'great reset' of our society and an opportunity to reimagine a different world. What is the social change that we can realistically imagine in South Africa, despite our dire economic circumstances, and increased joblessness and poverty due to Covid-19 and the mismanagement of resources?
With every industrial revolution comes shifts to social, economic, environmental and political systems, paving the way for transformative changes in the way we live and work. While the first three industrial revolutions brought the world steam power, electricity, mass production and digitisation, it is expected that as the Fourth Industrial Revolution unfolds, it will disrupt almost every business sector at an unprecedented rate.
The level of technological innovation now taking place has not been seen since the early 1900s, which saw the advent of powered flight, the radio, telephone and the internal combustion engine.
Social structure as a result of Industrial Revolution
- Increase in standard of living eventually resulted from urbanization
- Gaps between wealthy and working class still remained enormous
- Industrial and urban development made society more diverse and less unified
- Diversity within middle class
- Upper middle class: bankers, industrial leaders, large-scale commerce
- Diversified middle class: businessmen, professionals, merchants, doctors and lawyers
- Lower middle class: independent shopkeepers and small traders
- Working class: about 80% of population
- Many were peasants and hired hands (especially in Eastern Europe)
- Less unified and homogeneous compared to the middle classes
- Highly skilled workers were at the top of working class (about 15% of pop.)
- Semi-skilled workers: carpentry, bricklaying, successful factory workers
- Unskilled workers and domestic servants were at the bottom.
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Thanks to a new multi-year distribution agreement, Paratus will leverage Eutelsat Konnect in an attempt to connect remote and rural locations, businesses operating in farming, game farms and the SME segment and consumers, for home working, homeschooling and general Internet use across the country.
Through this collaboration, Paratus will offer a number of 10, 20 and 30 Mbps packages to consumers – all will 24/7 technical support and using small, cost-efficient dishes.
“Getting connectivity in remote locations is not easy; while the price is key to attracting customers, the quality of network – both connection and support – quickly proves more important. There is too often a disconnect between customer expectations and the delivery of service. With the partnership between Paratus and Eutelsat, we aim to overcome these boundaries and provide superior services for South Africa,” says MD of Paratus South Africa, Kallie Carlsen.
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