Concepts of Fordism, Post-Fordism, and Globalisation Lecture 26-28

Introduction
From Marxism to Fordism Globalisation

Marxism to Fordism

Progressive Industrialisation
From 1760

Marx and his theories World developments

Collapse of Empires Increasing technology

Mr Ford and the Model T

Fordism
Antonio Gramsci called Fordism "an ultra-modern form of production and of working methods such as is offered by the most advanced American variety, the industry of Henry Ford. Some sources stated that Fordism is the economic philosophy that widespread prosperity and high corporate profits can be achieved by high wages that allow the workers to purchase the output they produce, such as automobiles. Ford pioneered the modern model of mass production which bears his name, and which is often said to date from the development of the first moving assembly lines, put into operation at Ford's Model T plant at Highland Park, Michigan in 1914. Labour process of Fordism is structured around: 1). organisational principles of Taylor; 2). technological innovations of Ford. "Fordism" was coined about 1916 to describe Henry Fords methods in the automobile industry. Ford combined mass production system (first developed for gun manufacture earlier in the C19th and labelled the American System) which used interchangeable, standardised components with the moving assembly line.

THE Ford Era

The assembly line increased labor productivity tenfold and permitting stunning price cuts in Ford cars: from $780 in 1910 to $360 in 1914. Fordism thus involved standardizing a product and manufacturing it by mass means at a price so low that the common man could afford to buy it. Fordism displaced predominantly craft-based production in which skilled laborers exercised substantial control over their conditions of work, Fordist production entailed an intensified industrial division of labor; increased mechanization and coordination of large scale manufacturing processes

1.

achieve a steady flow of production; a shift toward the use of less skilled labor performing, ad infinitum, tasks minutely specified by management; and the potential for heightened capitalist control over the pace and intensity of work.

2. 3.

4.

The fordist production system has four key elements: First - by a distinctive division of labor - the separation of different work tasks between different groups of workers - in which unskilled workers execute simple, repetitive tasks and skilled technical and managerial workers undertake functions related to research, design, quality control, finance, coordination, and marketing. Second, parts and components are highly standardized Third, it is organized not around groups of similar machinery, but machines arranged in the correct sequence required manufacturing a product various parts of the production process are linked together by a moving conveyor belt - the assembly line - to facilitate the quick and efficient fulfillment of tasks

attributes can reduce cost of production of a single product, leading to increased sales and the potential development of mass markets. The main goal to lower the cost of the automobile. Many commentators believe that Fordism was characteristic of Western industry from about 1945 to some time in the 1970s, and that it was linked with the rise of major car manufacturing regions in the Western world

Ford's main contributions to mass production/consumption were in the realm of process engineering Ford vertically integrated for two reasons. First, he had perfected mass production techniques and could achieve substantial economies by doing everything himself Second, given the information processing capabilities of the time, plus Ford's skepticism about accounting and finance, direct supervision could more efficiently coordinate the flow of raw materials and components through the production process than arms-length relationships (Chandler 1977). By the 1930s, Ford's standardized product and his direct planning and control system had been rendered obsolete by innovations in marketing and organization at General Motors.

Post-Fordism

Post-Fordism

Stuart Hall defines post-Fordism as follows: "a shift to the new 'information technologies'; more flexible, decentralised forms of labour process and work organisation; decline of the old manufacturing base and the growth of the 'sunrise' computer-based industries; the hivingoff or contracting-out of functions and services, a greater emphasis on choice and product differentiation, on marketing packaging and design..." (Marxism Today October 1988).

Workers would need less supervision and "capitalist management...therefore hopes to be better able to isolate and attenuate conflicts that arise at the point of production, and to paralyse the functioning of the trade unions..." The new technology and work methods would allow a big rise in productivity in services, and thus reduce' the cost to capitalism of the social wage

Some real developments of today are crammed under the label of "post-Fordism" here without really belonging there - the current employers' drive for "flexible" workforces, for example. Ford's "Five Dollar Day" policy was very similar. He aimed to get a stable and relatively well-paid workforce in his factories - but contracted out a lot of work to other factories which paid much lower wages. Such was also the "Fordist" policy in Japanese industry.

That post-Fordism divides workers while Fordism united them is central to; the argument. The term "post-Fordism" is part of a whole fashion of post-this-and-that-ism, he term "post-modern" indicates something beyond modern architecture, without any definite commitment as to what.

Globalization
Globalization is the term often used to describe the increased flexibility and mobility of capital that has come in the wake of the heightened international competition of the early 1970's. What has resulted from this increased mobility of capital is a radical restructuring of the global economy. The core capitalist countries (U.S., West Europe, and Japan) have experienced a period of deindustrialization as most of their manufacturing jobs were shipped to the third world as corporations began taking advantage of the cheaper labor, cheaper regulations, and hence cheaper production costs there

One major consequence of this restructuring of the international division of labor is "the intensified territorial competition among government units for new investments (and for maintaining existing firms in place)" This increasing concentration of political and economic power in the hands of transnational corporations has indeed begun to erode modernist ideals of democracy, of power to the people.

Conclusion
Rational or irrational? We only pursue work so that we can enjoy leisure..
Plato