Rise and Fall of Mass Production

by Steven Tolliday

Overview

This important collection presents in two volumes the most significant papers on the history of mass production and highlights crucial debates in the attempt to understand the phenomenon and its social and economic effects.

The selection focuses on six important themes. Volume I opens with an exploration of the antecedents to mass production and an investigation of the mechanical, economic and social roots of the transformation in production methods at the beginning of the 20th century. The following section examines the emergence of ‘Fordism’ and the fundamental elements of the new system. The final section describes the extent to which mass production has spread through the wider economy and the ways in which it has changed in the process.

In Volume II, the first section covers the impact of mass production on work and the workers. The second section looks at how Japan has exploited the principles of mass production and may indeed have evolved a new form of productive organisation. The concluding section raises the question of whether in the late 20th century the dominance of mass production is in decline.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781858980423
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	01/28/1998
Series:	International Library of Critical Writin
Pages:	904
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Edited by Steven Tolliday, Professor of Economic and Social History, University of Leeds, UK

Table of Contents

Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Antecedents Part II: The ‘Moment’ of Fordism Part III: Diffusion and Variations Part IV: Labour Under Mass Production Part V: The Japanese Challenge Part VI: Industrial Divides?

Editorial Reviews

’Steven Tolliday has expertly assembled a collection of articles that treat the history, meaning and impact of mass production. . . . Tolliday is to be commended for assembling an illuminating and exciting set of often contending essays on what might more precisely be called the uneven rise and uneven persistence of mass production. It will be unfortunate if these volumes remain unused on reference shelves.’

From the Publisher

A collection of 32 articles written between the 1910s and the 1990s. They focus on the questions of where mass production came from, the fundamental elements of Fordism and why it emerged when and where it did, why and how far mass production spread into the wider economy and how it changed in the process, its impact on work and workers, whether the 20th-century success of Japan is due to a more ruthless exploitation of the principles of mass production or to a new form of productive organization, and whether the late 20th century is witnessing the end of mass production as a dominant or viable paradigm. They are reproduced from the original publications, so the type is variable and the illustrations generally of a poor quality. No subject index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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