Contact theory page 2 question
Mechanical Solidarity as Fordism declines
Fordism (Henry Ford)
Created the largest middle class
Wages for retention, consumerism
Benefits (healthcare, pensions)
Security (few layoffs, social insurance for dependents)
Internal promotion ladder
These had never been tried
all new
The American Dream
Home ownership
Family vacations, holidays
Education (mobility, advancement) for kids
Fordism - $ to white women in (union) jobs
White women and kids, dependents
Nonwhites, nonunion, reserve labor:
… underemployed, seasonal, poor, available, cheap
Fordism/Unions
lowered the level of inequality after the Great Depression
But…
End of Fordism
Factories shut down and or leave: ended Fordism “deindustrialization”(test
question)
With factories shutting, unions decline, inequality returns to eve-of-Great Depression
level
American management undid Fords
