CA 5.2 - Is Perkins view of modern society justified?

The third social revolution (Perkin)

http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=264620

In the current climate I would agree with Perkin but I don't think it is as straight forward as this. He states the major trends to justify his argument, which include:

High living standards for all
The rise of service industries
Class into hierarchy
Meritocracy
The incorporation of women
The welfare state
The centrality of higher education
The rise of the giant corporation
The global economy.

It is difficult to argue that this is not the case however, is it really this clear cut? We are in no doubt a society that entrusts the running of the country to the learned occupation, although democratically selected. Whilst we hear we are in a classless society not many people would agree. We are also driving more of the younger generation towards universities complete with student loans and long term debts. City workers still seem to get fat bonuses despite the fact that we are in a recession.

A network society is a society that is shaped around a number of social and media networks such as facebook and twitter. There is no doubt that these networks are becoming increasingly a way of life for many people. The millennial student has grown up with technology experiencing a positive economy during their school years whilst they have also seen the introduction of a safety to an extent that is perhaps wrapping them in cotton wool. To an extent we could consider our society to be a risk society, constant reminders of the greenhouse effect and how humanity is destroying the world, implies a society increasingly preoccupied with the future.

There is also no doubt that modern society has become very dependant on information. There is a need to create, record and manipulate data in an electronic form in all we do. A vast amount of data is being stored and manipulated for all sorts of dubious reasons and we are like it or not becoming dependant on this information. Is it however a significant economic, political, and cultural activity?
 
There are elements of a risk society, information society and certainly a network society encompassed in the overall picture making it difficult to argue any of these being the predominant one. As to the future? I'll leave that to the learned occupations I think, with tongue in cheek.