Flexible production bypassed Fordist rigidity to serve quick-changing markets

Evidence

Small-batch production and sub-contracting certainly had the virtues of bypassing the rigidities of the Fordist system and satisfying a far greater range of market needs, including quick-changing ones. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 936

Categorization

• XREF: Direct evidence for the rival periodization account the reader is comparing: flexible accumulation’s origins in small-batch production as a response to Fordist rigidity. — connects to: Flexible specialization decouples production technology from dedicated single models — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 503; The state’s crisis-management role grew in the post-Fordist era rather than shrinking — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1034; Flexible accumulation coexists with entrenched Fordist production rather than replacing it. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An…, 1213 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Flexibility means instantly adapting labor and machinery to market demand #expands (0.95) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 154
• Postmodern spatial disruption mirrors flexible accumulation’s global marketplace. #expands (0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1906
• Hall’s 1958 essay already predicted post-Fordist consumer culture’s class effects #corroborates (0.75)
• Europe wanted Fordist efficiency while retaining parasitic surplus-value consumers. #complicates (0.72)