Flexible Accumulation

Daniel Anikwue

11/29/17

David Harvey shows great intelligence when it comes to improving economic stand points. His arguments not only bring up real conversations starters during this time but even now. Life as we know it show this from firms changing concepts of labor jobs, to improvement of technology that can go beyond to the narrative or Fordism. It seems that many people can connect views of these arguments. As an Economic major witnessing a man with a mind analyzing the economic world makes me fathom the passion he had for this. He also discusses the emphasizing the shift from Fordism to a regime of flexible accumulation. After reading I can see how life can show influences of flexible accumulation.

Fordism was established by Henry Ford during the car assembly line era. The idea was to use the employees like the concept of an assembly line. For example, the idea to work for hourly wage day in eight hour days (126). He believed this would somewhat improve the economy in the long run. Also he assumed this would improve cooperate power. As a reader you can tell the argument can be shown a little in the beginning of the chapter. For example, he states that Fordism was bought in after the country went through a difficult time during the great depression. It was a tendency from a capitalism time to create this economic belief.

Flexible accumulation was an ideology how to improve the economy from what may be considered to some as an underachieved GDP in this country during 1960s. David Henry made it aware it was an improvement by saying in his argument that Fordism was no longer an improving (141). He discussed how Japan and many countries were showing the expansion of exported goods to other countries. This would cause a halt in the projection of Fordism which was entirely thinking the American would maintain this dominate output of products. Flexible Accumulation to David Henry elaborates why this is such an development by discussing the labor process, technology, organizational innovation etc. This to me elaborated on why he stated “emphasizing the shift from Fordism to a regime of flexible accumulation.” The economic enhancement from this would cause a change. For example, the lack of jobs from Fordism after a war would be corrected from the structural unemployment under flexible accumulation (145).