Case Study of Changes in the Apparel Industry in Virginia

[9819077]像美国这样的工业化国家的现代资本主义经济最近已经从“福特主义”生产转变过来，这种生产是以标准化商品的大众市场的存在为前提的，并使用具有独立生产概念和执行过程的装配线技术，转向“后福特主义”政权，在这种政权下，对资本外逃和工厂撤资的恐惧导致许多工人的工作保障和工资降低，同时出现“灵活的专业化”生产体系，包括专业化市场、熟练的适应性强的高薪工人和更通用的机器。本研究是对弗吉尼亚州一家纺织公司与其工人及其社区关系的民族志案例研究。这项研究将显示新的就业条件如何影响家庭和社区生活。将通过对管理人员和工人的广泛访谈、对工人的抽样调查、对档案的检查和在两个社区的参与观察来研究涉及雇佣关系的道德契约的变化，一个社区的工厂被改造，另一个社区的工厂被关闭。这项研究很重要，因为它促进了我们对当代社会雇佣关系重大变化的理解。它将评估资本和劳动关系变化的不同理论解释，并将提供洞察用人组织，工人和当地社区之间新发展的道德契约。这个项目所创造的新知识对规划人员和政治家以及工业人员都是有价值的。

9819077Collins The modern capitalist economy of industrialized countries like the US has shifted recently from "Fordist" production, premised on the existence of a mass market for standardized goods and using assembly line techniques with separate processes for the conception and execution of production, to a "post-Fordist" regime where the fear of capital flight and plant disinvestment leads to lower job security and wages for many workers along with a "flexible specialization" production system involving specialized markets, skilled adaptable highly-paid workers and more general purpose machinery. This research is an ethnographic case study of a textile company's relations with its workers and their communities in Virginia. The study will show how the new conditions of employment affect household and community life. Changes in the moral contract involved in the employment relation will be studied using extensive interviews with managers and workers, a sample survey of workers, examination of archives and participant observation in two communities, one where the plant was transformed and one in which the plant was closed down. This research is important because it advances our understanding of a major change in the employment relation in contemporary society. It will evaluate different theoretical explanations of the changes in the relation between capital and labor and will provide insight into the newly developing moral contract between employing organizations, workers, and the local communities. The new knowledge to be created by this project will be valuable to planners and politicians as well as to industry personnel.