Download - Changes in Industrial Production and Location Deindustrialization, the Sunbelt and Post-Fordism
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