Subject: Re: M-TH: Fordism Still Reigns?
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 98 12:29:35 -0000
From: Bill Cochrane <bc1961-AT-xtra.co.nz>


Yoshie,
I agree with most of your post but feel that it should be made clear that 
there is no single position that might be characterised as 'post fordist' 
rather there are a number of different theorists, ranging across the 
whole political spectrum, who only really agree that the capitalism of 
the 50, 60's is dead and that something else probably involving 
'flexibility' in production and fragmentation of mass markets is/has/will 
take place. I find much of this theorising deeply gauling as these people 
borrow promiscuously from the regulation school, hence implicating the 
regulationists, then deploy the concepts in ludicrous and inappropriate 
ways ending up with anything from the romanticism of Piore and Sabels 
neo-craftism to the idiot 'New Times' crew at the thankfully defunct 
Marxism today. As an antedote to this drivel might I suggest Amin, A. 
(Ed.). (1994). Post-Fordism: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwells.
as a great place to start. My personal favorite is Jane Jenson, "All the 
Worlds a Stage: Ideas, Spaces and times in canadian political economy", 
Studies in political economy 36, fall 1991 or 'Different but not 
exceptional, canadas permeable fordism' Canadian Review of sociology and 
anthropology, 26/1 1989 or Representations in crisis;the roots of canadas 
permeable fordism, canadian journal of political science 23/4 1990. If 
you can find it Jenson's interview with Lipietz is worth reading. Sorry 
about all the references and the presumption that you havent already read 
them but I'm indulging myself today.

Bill Cochrane
Ngaruawahia
New Zealand



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