Fordism And Postfordism

1179 Words5 Pages
Capitalism's main goal is to achieve profits, consequently its functions have been ever adapting, responding to social changes and taking advantage of beneficial opportunities to maximise profit. As society changed and began to demand a variety of products, flexible production methods were required to continue to make a profit, this led to the shift from Fordism to Post-Fordism. This production revolution has had to be socially adapted to counter capitalism's many contemporary variations. Throughout history business's have sought the most profitable business model, this pursuit for profits lead to the creation of the corporation which has many notable business advantages. Companies fought the government and the courts for the right to become incorporated and to reap its many benefits. Capitalism has adapted in order to continue making profits. Capitalism was the primary reason for the shift from Fordism to Post-Fordism, as Post-Fordism was a more efficient model of production meaning greater profits. Capitalism requires ever expanding markets and constantly evolving methods of production, lest it cease to exist (Marx & Engels, 1848). In order to achieve this a production revolution of sorts took place in many advanced economies, countries shifted from Fordism to Post-Fordism. Fordism was based upon Henry Ford's use of production lines and mass production. This model de-skilled the workers involved and made flexibility on the production lines difficult. During the early 1960's a larger range of products were being demanded which meant that companies were losing profits as they could not keep up with demand due to the inflexible production process. The changes which came with the adoption of Post-Fordism were largely implemented to increase flexibility on the production line and consequently boost profits, as Mitchell stated “Post-Fordism has been portrayed as a
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