The 1973 recession undermined Fordism and birthed a new accumulation regime

Evidence

The sharp recession of 1 973, exacerbated by the oil shock evidently shook the capitalist world out of the suffocating torpor of ‘stag­ flation’ (stagnant output of goods and high inflation of prices), and set in motion a whole set of processes that undermined the Fordist compromise. The 1970s and 1980s have consequently been a troubled period of economic restructunng and social and political readjust­ ment (figure 2.8). In the social space created by all this flux and uncertainty, a series of novel experiments in the realms of industrial organization as well as in political and social life have begun to take shape. These experiments may represent the early stirrings of the passage to an entirely new regime of accumulation, coupled with a quite different system of political and social regulation. — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 864

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core statement of Harvey’s periodization claim: economic crisis causes the passage to a new regime of accumulation (flexible accumulation).
• XREF: connects to: The core-periphery workforce split assumed by post-Fordism is implausible in intense international competition. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 507; The 1970s economic crisis fundamentally changed urban development patterns — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 579; The 1973 crisis began a new capitalism immune to state steering and proletarian challenge — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 18 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• The Fordist regime collapsed with the 1973 recession #corroborates (1.00) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 847
• Flexible accumulation coexists with entrenched Fordist production rather than replacing it. #complicates (0.80) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 1213
• Loose monetary policy plus oil shocks triggered the 1973 economic crisis #expands (0.75) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 861
• Britain’s economic crisis paired global recession with domestically specific accumulation failure. #exemplifies (0.72)
• Fordism required active nation-state economic management. #expands (0.70) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 813