Post Fordism

The history of political economy can be described and studied in three periods: the crisis of liberal order, the order of Fordism and the shift to a post-Fordist order. The flow of political economic history through these three periods is an evolution of society, in terms of the ever-changing relationship between labor and production.
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, Polanyi argues that, the construction of a self-regulating market slowly, but effectively, separated society into economy and politics. The disruptive social implications of the evolution of self-regulating markets and liberal creed give rise to the birth of modern state and the competitive capitalist economy. Labor becomes a commodity, and soon after that, undergoes a transition in the post-war order of Fordism to become the key factor in shaping its society.
Fordism broke down the rigid technology and organization of the labor process into parts and reassembled them with a new set of principles. Implying a maximum level of flexibility and adaptability of production methods, Fordism created a need for new skills in the labor market. Not only did Ford need a section of workers with multi-valued skills to fill the new demand gaps, it also tried to develop new tools and machines, using these …show more content…
As Fordist production approaches its limits, new methods of productions begin to emerge in order to find new ways of raising profits. Differentiation of the mass worker leads to the emergence of new identities which may not be occupationally defined. This, in turn, gives rise to the need for ways of expressing which can be satisfied through differentiated consumption, differentiated life styles and differentiated cultural identifications. In other words, the differentiation of labor becomes the differentiation of products, in terms of style and