The Age of Access: How the Shift from Ownership to Access is Transforming Modern Life (Penguin Business Library)

British consumers are now spending more on leisure activities than food. Businesses are freeing themselves of costly property and stock-holdings, as intellectual property becomes their most valuable asset. Culture is replacing industry as the maindriving force of the economy. Against this background, The Age of Access looks at how and why we are spending more and owning less. It explores the shift from markets to networks, geography to cyberspace, ownership to access relationships and industrial to cultural production. The critical question posed by Rifkin is whether civilization can survive when only the commercial sphere remains the arbiter of human life.