Fragmented Responses to the Crisis of Regulation

The twentieth century, particularly since 1945, has been dominated by the virtuous circle of Fordism, a system that joined mass production to mass consumption. It could be even better described as an upward spiral of capitalist accumulation supported by the welfare state, strong labour unionism and credit-based consumerism, each of which played its part in the virtuous circle linking production to consumption.1 Two fundamental technologies underlay the economic apparatus: the automobile and electricity. The former structured space (the importance of individualism, the detached house, the extended suburbs and the second home, for instance), while the latter played two roles: it was a factor in productivity improvements and it gave rise to a multiplicity of mass-consumption products. From this perspective Fordism can be understood as a sociotechnical paradigm in which regulation of the mass-consumption/mass-production link was based on certain fundamental technologies used in both consumption and production, the latter associated with a particular form of work organisation (Figure 7.1). This virtuous circle had a sort of ‘accelerator’ effect that favoured the development of demand through trade union pressures (wage claims) as well as through the welfare state, with its indirect wages (health and education in particular).