During the 1980s there were profound changes in the labour process towards the 'flexible worker' and in the labour market towards a 'flexible workforce'. Three approaches to explain these changes provide the focus for this book: Marxist regulation theory; the notion of flexible specialisation associated with the 'new' institutional economics; and the model of the flexible firm derived from managerialist literature. In the book, the claims made by these approaches are investigated and their implications are examined in relation to emerging patterns of work in advanced societies.

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List of Tables and Figures - Preface - Notes on the Contributors - Introduction: Fordism, Post-Fordism and Economic Flexibility; R.Burrows, N.Gilbert & A.Pollert - PART 1: HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL CRITIQUES - What in the F...'s Name is Fordism; S.Clarke - Where's the Value in 'Post-Fordism'?; J.Gough - PART 2: LOCALITY STUDIES - Labour Market Change and the Organisation of Work; A.Rainnie & D.Kraithman - Flexibility in Britain during the 1980s: Recent Empirical Evidence; R.Penn - PART 3: INDUSTRIAL CASE STUDIES - Inflexible Flexibility: A Case Study of Modularisation; T.Elger & P.Fairbrother - Management Control and a New Regime of Subordination: Post-Fordism and the Local Economy; P.Garrahan & P.Stewart - Gender, Technology and Flexibility in the UK Mail Order Industry; S.Leman - PART 4: NEW PATTERNS OF EMPLOYMENT - Older Worker Employment: Change and Continuity in the 1980s; B.Casey & F.Laczko - Structure and Sentiment: Family and Rationality within the Capitalist Enterprise; I.Roberts & G.Holroyd - Over the Threshold? Public and Private Choices in New Information Technology Homeworking; S.Smith & J.Anderson - Bibliography - Index