Changes in Industrial Production and Location

Deindustrialization, the Sunbelt and Post-Fordism

The Post War Economy

• Fordism,1950s-1970s– Mass production/mass consumption– Little product differentiation– Big companies– Big unions– Steady growth

• Sometimes called the “Golden Age” of capitalism

Crisis of Fordism

• Starting in 1970s, the Fordist way of doing things is challenged– Competition from “new players” like Japan– New technology allows for production to be

divided across space

• Old ways aren’t working

• Post-Fordism

The Second Industrial Divide

• Piore & Sabel, 1984

• Flexible Specialization– Firm does not do everything– Concentrates on one aspect of production

and does it well (and cheaply)– Product differentiation

• Just-in-Time Production– Based on Japanese production– Goods supplied as needed; no inventory

• Vertical Disintegration– Rather than one big firm, production is

switched to networks of firms– Region, not factory

The Second Industrial Divide

David Harvey

• Time-space compression– Technology advances and pace of life make

world a smaller place– What happens in one place affects what

happens in another very quickly

Deindustrialization

• Bluestone & Harrison, 1982

• Companies address problems by reducing workforce and closing factories

• Industrial Midwest is targeted– High union activity– Resistance to change

The Rustbelt

Sunbelt Hypothesis

• Manufacturers leave the rustbelt for the South and West

• Why?– Cheaper– Fewer unions– Blank slate

The Sunbelt

The Gunbelt

• Ann Markusen, 1991

• Questioned Sunbelt hypotheses

• Real issue is government spending– Defense– “Gunbelt”

The Gunbelt

Regional Production

• Industrial Districts– Silicon Valley, California

• Electronics/Software

– Baden-Wurtemburg, Germany• Automobiles, machinery

– Emilia-Romagna, Italy• Clothing, ceramics

• DiGiovanna, 1996

Implications

• Regionalization

• Globalization– Global division of labor

• Challenge to the “place-bound”– Workers– Communities