Invest in Period Industry to Provide a New Source of Jobs at the Local Level

A “period industry” is an industry that uses raw materials, techniques of production, and modes of organizing from an earlier time period. The earlier the time period, the more labor is needed. Because of labor-intensity, the goods produced by the period industry are expensive; hence, they are a new type of luxury item. High levels of production and profitability is not their purpose. Period industries reassure us that if modern civilization breaks down, there is a back-up system already in operation to insure the survival of the human race. In the advanced stages of period industry, new trajectories of development may emerge from period industry leading to an “Alternative Modernity.” We can design an interesting new culture while preserving the old one.