SOURCE: Maruyama, Magoroh. Review of The Third Wave, by Alvin Toffler. American Anthropologist 83, no. 2 (June 1981): 410-12.

In the following review, Maruyama criticizes The Third Wave for being ethnocentric in perspective and for inaccurately applying sociological theory, but notes that the work will be of interest to social scientists.

If his previous book Future Shock was disappointing to many, The Third Wave is a pleasant surprise to some, intriguing to others, and may appear unintelligible or irrational to a few. It brings to the surface the problems of cognitive, perceptual, and cogitative patterns of the readers as well as the author.

The book is based on extensive data gathered from the frontiers of trends in our society, many of which are outside the established categories and are therefore overlooked by most social scientists. But The Third Wave is not a mere compilation of data. Its merit lies in the...