Fordism and Its Decline

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Fordism and Its Decline

• 1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism
•  
• 1.1 The Economic Boom
• 1.2 The Welfare State
• 1.3 The Total Package
•  
• 2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Fordisms Decline
•  
• 2.1 Globalization, Free Markets and A New
  Attitude
• 2.2 Corporate Re-Structuring
• 2.3 State Re-Structuring
• 2.4 Effects on Ordinary People

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1.1 The Economic Boom (1945-c.1975)
1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism

• a period of unprecedented economic growth
• a commitment to Keynesian economics
• the state becomes involved in the economy
• the civil service doubles in size in the three
  decades following WWII
• rise of consumer society

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1.2 The Welfare State
1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism

• Definition --
• an amalgam of state policies which attempt to
  patch-up or gloss-over basic social needs which
  are not met by the simple functioning of the
  capitalist mode of production

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1.2 The Welfare State
1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism

• Making the Welfare State in Canada
• pre-WWII not much of a welfare state in
  Canada
• but, Depression of 1930s exposes risks of
  leaving things this way
• in postwar world, the state decides it must
  intervene, and it does this in a variety of ways
  ..

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1.2 The Welfare State
1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism

• Social Programmes
• Unemployment Insurance (1941)
• Family Allowances (1945)
• Old-Age Pensions (1927, expanded 1951)
• Social Assistance
• Canada Pension Plan (1965)
• Housing
• Medical Insurance (1968)
• Education

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1.2 The Welfare State
1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism

• State Income Policies
• Government attempts to smooth out business cycles
  using monetary and fiscal policy
• Policy of full employment
• New tax policies help redistribute income

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1.2 The Welfare State
1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism

• Collective Bargaining
• PC 1003 (1944) legal recognition of unions
  wartime measure
• Industrial Disputes and Investigations Act
  (1948) permanent

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1.3 The Total Package
1.0 The Consolidation of Fordism

• Sustained economic growth
• Wage growth and increasing family incomes
• Expansion of welfare state
• Mass Production/Mass Consumption economy

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2.1 Globalization, Free Markets, New Attitudes
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• 1945-75 global gradualism
• Ideologies Adam Smith, Frederich von Hayek,
  Milton Friedman and free market thinkers
• Deceleration of economic growth by 1970s
  economic crisis, OPEC, Vietnam War
• ability to pay for Fordist compromise becomes a
  problem

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2.1 Globalization, Free Markets, New Attitudes
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• Neoliberalism
• OECD Report (1978) New Protectionism
• STRUCTURAL RIGIDITIES

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2.1 Globalization, Free Markets, New Attitudes
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• Neoliberalism
• OECD Report (1978) New Protectionism
• STRUCTURAL RIGIDITIES
• -- need to attack
• 1. "attitudes and institutional developments
  which evolved during a period of uninterrupted
  high levels of employment"

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2.1 Globalization, Free Markets, New Attitudes
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• Neoliberalism
• OECD Report (1978) New Protectionism
• STRUCTURAL RIGIDITIES
• -- need to attack
• 2. the rapid growth of the public sector and of
  social programmes and regulations which, however,
  desirable in themselves, sometimes had
  unintended adverse side effects on incentives to
  work, save and invest.

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2.1 Globalization, Free Markets, New Attitudes
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• Neoliberalism
• OECD Report (1978) New Protectionism
• STRUCTURAL RIGIDITIES
• -- need to attack
• 3. attempts by governments to alleviate the
  social consequences of structural change by
  preserving given production and employment
  structures
• Remember Creative Destruction

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2.1 Globalization, Free Markets, New Attitudes
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• Neoliberalism
• OECD Report (1978) New Protectionism
• STRUCTURAL RIGIDITIES
• 4. most importantly, slow growth itself makes
  structural adjustment more difficult

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2.2 Corporate Re-Structuring
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• To compete internationally companies
• create a more flexible workforce
• restructure labour processes
• reduce workforce size, drive remaining workers
  harder
• outsource and/or relocate to lower wage
  environments
• get lean
• Royal Commission on Canadian Economy McDonald
  Report (1985)

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2.3 The State
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• For Canada to better compete globally,
  governments try to harmonize social policy with
  other free trade jurisdictions. In this race to
  the bottom they
• get tough with public sector unions
• curb wages increases for their employees
• turn back on full employment embrace
  monetarism
• gut social programmes
• generally attempt to cut social costs

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2.4 Effects on Ordinary Canadians
2.0 Cracks in the Bliss Undoing Fordism

• Erosion of Fordist security
• little evidence that promises of neoliberalism
  have trickled down
• Increase/Decrease in Real Deposable Income/yr
• 1960s 3.9
• 1970s 3.0
• 1980s 1.1
• 1990s -3.3
• after tax
• Source A. Jackson et al. Falling Behind.
  Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, (2000)

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MAKE THE PIE HIGHER by George W. Bush

• I think we all agree, the past is over. This is
  still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen
  and uncertainty and potential mental losses.
  Rarely is the question asked Is our children
  learning? Will the highways of the Internet
  become more few? How many hands have I shaked?
  They misunderestimate me. I am a pitbull on
  the pantleg of opportunity. I know that the
  human being and the fish can coexist. Families
  is where our nation finds hope, where our wings
  take dream. Put food on your family! Knock
  down the tollbooth! Vulcanize society! Make the
  pie higher! Make the pie higher!