The issues addressed in Knowledge Societies include: the process of scientization; the transformation of the political system by increasingly knowledgeable citizens; the rise of specific areas of expertise and changes in corresponding institutions based on the deployment of specialized knowledge; a shift in the nature of societal conflict from struggles about the allocation of income and property to claims and conflict about generalized human needs; and the emergence of fragility as a basic attribute of modern social organizations.

Stehr's argument amply demonstrates that all social theories now need to take account of the changing nature of social relations around knowledge, and it defines the parameters within which this analysis should take place.