Post-Fordism
A common job position under a Post-Fordist economy would be:
A. Stable Office Job
B. Assembly Line Worker
C. Gig Work/ Freelance
What is Gig Work or Freelance (C)
An economic philosophy advocating for free markets, deregulation, and reduction in government spending.
What is Neoliberalism?
A form of organizational control that leverages employees’ identities and emotions, blurring the lines between the work and personal life.
What is biocratic control?
Gig economy workers often lack this type of employment security and employer responsibility.
What is employee benefits or full-time employment?
Communication in Post- Fordist organizations is no longer top-down but instead this.
What is multidirectional?
The type of work central to Post-Fordism, emphasizing problem-solving and emotional engagement.
What is knowledge and emotional labor?
This kind of ‘self’ must constantly promote and market themselves.
What is the entrepreneurial self?
This type of control is through shared norms and internalized corporate values.
What is normative control?
This common app has become a symbol of gig work in the transportation industry.
What is Uber?
Culture becomes form of this, influencing how people act and think.
What is control?
A Japanese system created under post-fordism focused on the process of production rather than focused on the product:
A. Kaizen
B. Toyotism
C. Taylorism
What is Toyotism (B)
The belief that individuals are entirely responsible for their career success or failure.
What is responsibilization?
This type of control relies on coworkers policing each other.
What is team-based control?
This type of control is exerted on gig workers through customer ratings, app metrics, and performance feedback without direct human supervision.
What is algorithmic control?
The use of language like 'team player' or 'passion' is an example of this kind of influence.
What is ideological discourse or cultural framing?
In post-fordism economies what term would describe workers who have short-term jobs or are usually unemployed?
A. Precariat
B. Neoliberal
C. Fordist
What is precariat (A)
Post-Fordist ideology often equates freedom with this.
What is flexibility or autonomy?
This type of control uses digital tools to monitor performance.
What is technological control?
This is a key feature of the gig economy that describes a worker's ability to perform tasks and responsibilities on demand for multiple workers.
What it is remote work?
Technology like slack or zoom contributes to this kind of work environment.
What is constant connectivity or always-on culture?
The economic transition that enabled Post-Fordist organizing.
What is the shift from manufacturing to service/knowledge economies?
The contradiction where workers are ‘free’ but face surveillance and instability.
What is the neoliberal paradox?
The underlying mechanism that enables soft forms of control to persist unnoticed.
What is internalization of ideology or identity-based control?
In the gig economy, this form of ideological messaging encourages workers to see unstable, underpaid labor as a sign of personal freedom and empowerment.
What is entrepreneurial discourse?
This is the theoretical term for how people construct and perform identities through communication.
What is discursive identity formation?