SO1506 Economy, Work & Consumption

Lecture Topics Lecture 1: a) The Rise of Modern Industrial Capitalism, Industrial Workers, Urbanisation & The Birth of Consumerism b) Fordism, The Affluent Worker & Mass Consumption Lecture 2: Fordist Society contd. -The Post War Era; Work, Consumption & Family c)Post-Fordism, Flexibility, Deregulation, The Global Market, Global Labour and Global Consumer Culture

Pre-Capitalist Society From Antiquity to the Middle Ages: Ancient Trade Ancient Empires Spice, Silk, Serfdom & Subsistence

(The Renaissance – mid 1300s +) (The Reformation 1517) Individualism The Enlightenment Scientific Revolution Rationality & Romanticism Threads of Modernity

a) Pre-Industrial Capitalism – Seeds of Great Transformation ( ) Mercantilism cc 16th – 18 th C. Adventure/Booty Capitalism Early Commercial Organisation & Corporations

Towards an Industrial Capitalist Society The Agricultural Revolution (cc 1760 onwards) Rational Capitalism & Free Markets Industrial Revolution Urbanization Birth of Consumer Culture

The Industrial Revolution Energy & The Factory System The Division of Labour Agriculture to Factory and Service Work Wage Labour

The Industrial Workers The Conditions of 19th Century Workers The Trade Unions Separation of Home & Work Urbanization

The Expansion of Cities in the 19th Century London1,000,000 2,685,0006,500,000 Paris500,0001,000,0002,700,000 Vienna247,000444,0001,675,000 Berlin172,000419,0001,889,000 New York60,515515,0003,437,000 Chicago<100029,0001,689,000

The Birth Of Consumerism The Department Store The City & The Leisure Class (Veblen, 1899)

Early Department Stores emerge from mid 19th Century (Laermans, 1993) Paris, New York, Chicago prominent in the development of the production of consumption- England and Germany followed by the turn of the century (Adburgham, 1981). The Birth of Consumer Culture: The Department Store

Taylorism & Scientific Management FW Taylor (1911) Rational Organization Specialization (Tasks and Planning) Standardization (Tools & Rules) Time & Motion Piece Work

Fordism & Mass Production Assembly Line (Michigan, 1913) Youve got to work like hell in Fords (Ford factory worker in the 1920s) De-Skilling (Braverman) Human Relations Management:Controlling and Motivating Workers

Fordist Society & Mass Consumption Making Mass Consumers: Use Value & Exchange Value Waste Captains of Consciousness (Ewen)

Economic Systems Free Market Capitalism: Private Ownership of Industry and Property, Free Competition, Consumer Sovereignty and Markets Socialism: Collective (Public) Ownership of Industry and Property, State Controlled Economy Welfare Capitalism: Mixed Economy (Private & Public Ownership of Industry & Property), Government Intervention in Market (Demand Management, Redistribution), Social Welfare System

SO1506 Economy, Work & Consumption Lecture 2: The Post War Era – The Present

Recap Lecture 1 Key Points 1) The Great Transformation (cc1700 – 1900) underpinned by increasing rationality (Enlightenment) - transforms science, technology and capitalism - leads to div. of labour, industrial rev., rational capitalism. (opposition from Romantics late 18th) 2) Agricultural work gives way to factory and service work. Mass movement towards city living. Increasing anonymity and individuation within the urban setting – society of strangers. Identity and status more dependent on appearances. 3) Availability of consumer goods and desire for distinction amongst urban bourgeoisie creates suitable conditions for the birth of consumerism. Dept. Stores (1850s +) serve as bourgeois (female) leisure centres - rational capitalism in a romantic setting. Notion of consumer goods as identity markers emerges. Early consumer culture limited to the wealthy elite. 4) Early 1900s Taylorism and Fordism further rationalize production – make mass production possible. Need to motivate workforce + stimulate demand for mass produced goods. Solutions: Pay higher wages (family wage) - allow more leisure time. Overturn working class asceticism (advertising industry) – encourage self- indulgence and waste. Transform limited consumer culture of 19 th C. into mass consumer culture of 20 th.

The Fordist Society The Great Depression Economic Systems Keynesianism Full Employment & the Job for Life Corporatism

Post-War Boom & the Consumer Society War Production becomes peace production A New Deal-The American Dream Leisure Suburbia Riesman The Lonely Crowd 1950 The Housewife

The Triumph of the Visual? Cinema, Television and Consumer Culture Hollywood Cinema (cc 1910 onwards) Television (cc 1950s) USA: In 1945 almost no one owned a television set; by 1950 alone, 7,500,000 were sold (Marling, 1994). Soaps & Sitcoms

Post-Fordism & De- Industrialization 1970s : End of the Consensus Deregulation Privatization Marketization Industrial Decline and The Rise of Services

Flexible Production & Services Flexible Production: Multi-tasking & Multi-skilling McDonaldization (Ritzer)

The Post-Fordist Labour Market The Dual Labour Market: Primary & Periphery High Road & Low Road Flexibility Casualization & Risk-shifting

Work, Gender Relations & The Family Women In the Workforce The Family Wage (declines) Balancing Home & Work

The Commercial Colonization of The Self The Home/Work Boundary The Longest Day Emotional Labour Willing Slaves Managism

I Shop Therefore I Am Consumer Bodies/Consumer Selves Consumerism, Counter Cultures and Incorporation Branding

The Global Economy Communication/Media Transport Transnational Corporations (TNCs) Interlocking Directorate

Global Labour Markets A Global Division of Labour? Economic Migration Offshoring

Global Consumer Culture Citizens or Consumers? Niche Marketing Homogenization or Glocalization

Future Work & Consumption Brazilianization (Beck) The End of Work (Rifkin) The Leisure Society?