Lecture 2: A Key Moment that has shaped Human Geography Flashcards
What key moment in the last 100 years has most shaped Human Geography?
World wars of 20th Century Climate Change Fordism & Mass Consumption Creation of European Union The Internet 1960s Human Rights Movements Other?
What is fordism?
Refers to a way of economic life developed around the mass production of consumer goods, using assembly‐line techniques.
Key concepts
CONSUMPTION:
Utilisation of goods and services
Key concepts
ACCUMULATION:
Systems of production and consumption
Fordism completely transformed urban life (and gave rise to suburbia) from 1920s, then again 1945‐1960s.
What did Fordism shape and drive?
Shaped major urban industrial centres across US – e.g. Chicago, Detroit, Boston
Also drove international and rural out‐migration
The Chicago School of Urban Ecology has helped understand…?
The impacts of Fordism on urban life by gathering data on city structures and providing a comprehensive theory of city organisation.
Residential differentiation
The tendency for similar activities and similar types of people to cluster together in cities
Residential differentiation reflects stratification
– CLASS – material inequalities – STATUS – life style and prestige – CULTURE • ‘ways of life’ • Values, abstract ideals • Norms – rules, legal, moral
Burgess’ concentric zone model:
Burgess and Hoyt
- Central business district (CBD)
- Zone in transition
- Zone of Workingmen’s homes
- Residential zone
- Commuter zone
Criticisms of Burgess’ concentric zone model
• Overgeneralised from one city
- Single main centre
- Multi‐ethnic areas
Three main changes after Fordism
post-industrial society
disorganized capitalism
post-Fordism
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
Fordism –> post-Fordism
from mass production of homogenous goods to small batch customization
Post- Fordism
Three major changes:
- multi-skilling labours
- eliminating rigid job demarcation lines
- labour force taking responsibility for quality
JIT stock management (supplies delivered only when required) —- “just in time”
