When considering future trends in educational and vocational orientation we must constantly bear in mind, in as concrete a way as possible, that schools form an integral part of society as a whole. To point out that education and society are inseparable concepts has of course become almost a ritual statement in the majority of studies of future developments in education. All too often however "society" becomes an allegorical figure to which characteristics can be attributed varying with the tradition of thought adhered to by each writer. This figure is given a part to play in the plot which...