Everything Condensed and in own Words Flashcards
What is fordism?
A way of producing products for mass production of consumer goods.
What 3 principles did fordism allow for?
- Made way for a deskilled labour force
- It centralised manager supervision of the deskilled labour force
- Located capital in specific locations- Detroit, NYC etc to grow more industry/ business
Where did Fordism come about?
Henry Ford in Detroit- his use of the assembly line to produce vehicles easily and effectively.
What did the assembly line do?
Made jobs in the factories much more basic, it deskilled the labour.
Empowered the employers but not the employees- easily fire and hire.
Who did people like Ford and other mass producers supply to?
Whats todays market like?
They targeted the huge working class and middle class sector (the people that worked for them could buy what they made).
More niche market.
What does an “agglomeration of businesses” mean?
A build up of similar businesses of one industry in one location.
For example, car industry in Detroit, 1930s-1970s all car parts were built there.
No waiting around- very quick production.
When did Fordism take place?
1930s- 1970s
Why did Fordism hit a crisis in the 1970s?
1) In the Middle East, where the bulk of oil was controlled, the OPEC cartel formed which limited supply of oil to global economy. Drastically rising prices and shocking economy/ industry.
2) The rise in global industry competitors.
3) Overproduction
What are the main distinctions in post-Fordism?
1) It decreased overhead- meaning businesses could not afford their managers, required employees to supervise themselves (labour force taking responsibility for quality)
2) Limited stock- to keep costs low, if products sold THEN they would sell more (less risk).
3) “Just in time” production
4) Sourcing of products and labour elsewhere in the world where it’s cheaper
What is residential differentiation?
The tendency for similar activities and similar types of people to cluster together in cities
Burgess’ concentric zone model:
- Central business district (CBD)
- Zone in transition
- Zone of Workingmen’s homes
- Residential zone
- Commuter zone
Criticisms of Burgess’ concentric zone model
Quite old and was developed before the advent of mass car ownership.
New working and housing trends have emerged since the model was developed. Many people now choose to live and work outside the city on the urban fringe.
Every city is different. There is no such thing as a typical city.
Post-industrial society
Rise of service class
Shift from industrial manufacturing to service industries centered on information technology
High degree of autonomy (service class sells their skills)
Post-Fordism emerged why?
Saturated western markets did not require mass production (crisis of overproduction)
Corporations sought more flexible production techniques, involving advanced technology and reorganisation of labour
What is economies of scale?
A proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production.
What is the Hoyt model?
Based on the Burgess model, but adds sectors of similar land uses concentrated in parts of the city.
Some zones, eg the factories/industry zone, radiate out from the CBD, e.g following the line of a main road or a railway.
Early accounts of community
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (1887)
What are Gemeinschaft relations like?
When an informal community exists where the people are of similar culture and live together cooperatively. There is a sense of moral obligation to the group.
What are Gesellschaft relations like?
When a formal community exists that is highly competitive and based off of self interest. There is a complex division of labour that is goal oriented.
‘Human ecology’ - findings from the Chicago School of Human Ecology. Parker found that…
Competition in city.
Dominance of social groups.
Gentrification- one group would come in and replace another.
What was Bethnal Green?
What was it characterised by?
Bethnal Green in the 1950s was characteristic of Fordist living.
Organised labour (based around a ‘living wage’), and mass production/ consumption.
Role of place in shaping communities:
- Structures the daily routines of economic and social life; (functional)
- Structures people’s life paths, providing them with both opportunities and constraints;
- Provides an arena in which everyday, ‘common- sense’ knowledge and experience is gathered;
- Provides a site for socialisation and social reproduction.
- Barke and Farlane, 2001
The Rise of Community Planning in the UK
1944 Dudley Report
Promotion of ‘neighbourhood’ and community life a key feature of UK post-war planning efforts (allied with Fordist way of economic life)
The Rise of Community Planning in the UK
1947 Town and Country Planning Act
- All planning was to be subject to planning permission by local councils
- Local authority ‘development plan’
The Decline of Fordism (1970s…) from lecture
• Flexible Specialization
• Globalisation
• Growing demand by women to enter workforce
• Modern Consumerism- people wanted more niche products to develop identities.
• Neoliberal De-Regulation (state retrenchment)
Knox and Pinch, 2010
By the 1960s… (Gesellschaft relations)
The idealised notion of neighbourhood communities began to lose its appeal and came under scrutiny- greater recognition of the divided nature of society.
Anderson (1983) ‘Imagined Communities’
All nations are “imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each they carry the image of their communion” (Anderson 1983)
Antagonism across the UK from the 50s-70s?
Many workers who came from British colonies faced discrimination
1958 race riots in Nottingham and London
1960s and early 70s - many instances of racism in the unions — discrimination against black workers and even racist strikes in UK.
What is Crisis Communality?
Where people feel and express concern with order, conformity and social homogeneity (Knox and Pinch, 2010: 191).
- Often involves cultural identity politics.
- Mediated by power relationships: – Issues of dominance and oppression
- Exclusion of groups who transgress (or are expected to transgress - Cresswell).
What is ‘Othering’?
– the process of perceiving or portraying someone or something as intrinsically different or alien.
– binary of self and other (“not one of us”)
– class, ethnicity, disability, religion
