Fourastié’s foresight after 50 years

More than half a century ago the French futurist Jean Fourastié (1907‐1990) presented an interesting view of society in the year 2000. His vision of the future has remained relatively unfamiliar in the Anglo‐Saxon world. However Fourastié’s “hypothesis” that the fundamental “laws of production and consumption” would lead to the rise of a service‐oriented society would seem largely to have come true. Fourastié’s vision is still relevant because it also warns policy‐makers not to allow themselves to be blinded by exaggerated expectations of the future. He states that the true task of the authorities is to focus on the training and guidance of entrepreneurs and citizens in the difficult transition process from the existing socio‐economic structure to the new.