Uneasy discipline: training workers after fordism in Turkey and Argentina

Abstract

Contemporary capitalism is marked by a disciplinary revolution. Thanks to the diffusion of just-in-time, flexible production systems, new techniques that impose a new form of discipline are increasingly common across many workplaces. This is conceptually distinct from the Fordist disciplinary regime organized around a swift punishing of worker disobedience. Through a comparison of two factories—located in Turkey and Argentina—of the same company, this article shows that political dynamics play a central role in this process.