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A Post-fordist society is a construct used to describe a society which has left behind Fordist principles of mass production and instead utilizes industrial principles predominantly based on flexible specialization in the workplace (Webster, 1995, p.136).
Fordism is based on the mode of production developed and made popular by Henry Ford, an American car manufacturer. His workplace model saw workers each repeatedly performing one highly specialized task in a production line set-up. The fordist market was characterized by mass produced, standardized goods (Mackay, 2001, p.22). Manufacturing plants, facilities and factories were typically huge, some employing tens of thousands of workers. These industrial workers were predominantly male, and positioned as 'blue collar' workers (Webster, 1995, p.138).
Fordist production in turn lead to altered patterns of consumption. Decreasing cost of goods and increasing wages combined to create an environmnet of mass consumption (Webster, 1995, p.142). This mass consumption relied on the goods produced being available to the blue collar working class who produced them, as they constituted the largest market for goods sales. The increased consumption supported the ongoiong, continuous mass production.
During this period, sociological measures of society began to measure qualitative and intangible social characteristics through analysis of ownership or consumption habits (Mackay, 2001, p.23). There was also heightened emphasis placed on social class.
Post-fordism began to develop in response to major social and economic trends in the 1970s, especially increasing globalization and the economic recession. The new workplace models that developed were characterized by flexibility of workers, production and consumption (Barney, 2004, p.10).
Flexibility of employees menat that workers were no longer required to perform a single, menial task in a production line. Instead, 'multi-skilling' became a quality valued and promoted within industry (Webster, 1995, p.140). Workers also experienced wage flexibility, being paid at a negotiated rather than strict union rate; time flexibility, with part-time, shift work and other alternate forms of employment increasing in popularity; and actual occupational flexibility, changing jobs every few years rather than staying at one company for life.
Flexibility of production also ensued, meaning companies now created goods in response to needs and orders, rather than a continuous, stable volume of goods production (Webster, 1995, p.141). Subcontracts were also employed more frequently.
Lastly, there was also a responding flexibility in consumption. The development of new technologies allowed factories to create a wider range of goods than the previous uniformity of the fordist era (Mackay, 2001, p.27). Consumers began to look for and value diffrent, individualized goods with which to better express themselves and their identity.
Post-fordism is closely tied to the notions of the Information Society and the network society (Barney, 2004, p.10). In this context, a post-fordist society is characterized by increased number of technologies, an increased service sector, a declined manufacturing sector and the globalization of local, national and commercial markets (Mackay, 2001, p.26).
This conception of society relies more on 'white collar' workers, and is often described as being the feminization of the workplace (Webster, 1995, p.140).
Barney, D. (2004) The Network Society, Great Britain: Polity Press. ISBN 0745626688
Mackay, H. (2001) Investigating the Information Society, New York: Routeledge.
Webster, F. (1995) The Information Society Reader, London: Routeledge. ISBN 0415319285
