【每日德鲁克】2026年5月8日

8 May

Price of Success in the Knowledge Society

The fear of failure has already permeated the knowledge society.

The upward mobility of the knowledge society comes at a high price: the psychological pressures and emotional traumas of the rat race. There can be winners only if there are losers. This was not true of earlier societies.

Japanese youngsters suffer sleep deprivation because they spend their evenings at a crammer to help them pass their exams. Otherwise they will not get into the prestige university of their choice, and thus into a good job. Other countries, such as America, Britain, and France, are also allowing their schools to become viciously competitive. That this has happened over such a short time—no more than thirty or forty years—indicates how much the fear of failure has already permeated the knowledge society.

Given this competitive struggle, a growing number of highly successful knowledge workers—business managers, university teachers, museum directors, doctors—"plateau" in their forties. If their work is all they have, they are in trouble. Knowledge workers therefore need to develop some serious outside interest.

5月8日

知识社会成功的代价

对失败的恐惧已经渗透进知识社会。

知识社会的向上流动付出了高昂代价：激烈竞争带来的心理压力和情感创伤。只有在有失败者的情况下，才会有成功者。这在早期社会中并不存在。

日本年轻人因晚上上补习班备考而长期缺乏睡眠，否则他们无法进入理想的名校，也就无法获得好工作。美国、英国、法国等国家的学校也正变得异常竞争激烈。这种变化在短短三四十年内发生，表明对失败的恐惧已经深深渗透到知识社会。

在这种竞争环境下，越来越多成功的知识工作者——企业管理者、大学教师、博物馆馆长、医生——在四十多岁时出现“平台期”。如果他们的全部生活只是工作，他们就会陷入困境。因此，知识工作者需要培养严肃而重要的业余兴趣。