Not sure we even have to go back to the middle ages. After WWII we saw, certainly in Europe, the move towards a more collaborative society. For me the last few years has seen us begin to reject the ‘global’ elements of our life and the shareholder led approacg. In my field, knowledge and intranets, this translates to moving away from faceless repositores and back to relationships and local becoming important. Social business allows large organisations to adopt this ‘local’ approach, built around communities. In the next few years the social business intranet will become the norm. In the wider business structure this may see stakeholder relationships within organisations become more important (workers, suppliers ect) rather than shareholders. Will this see the rise in fortunes of trade unions, trade associations, employee forums. Maybe not. But certainly those with knowledge and commitment to an industry or organisation have a far greater chance of being heard and involved.