disorganized capitalism

the tendency of modern CAPITALISM, and its class structures, to become increasingly disorganized in the following respects (Offe, 1985; Lash and Urry 1987):

the growth of a ‘world market’, a decline in the regulation of national markets by dominant corporations, by tariffs, cartels, etc, and at the same time a declining capacity of individual nation states to control their own economic destinies. This includes a breakdown in ‘neocorporatist’ forms of state regulation and the provision of social welfare, which is associated with the appearance of contradictions between these state forms and the accumulation of capital (e.g. the appearance of ‘fiscal crises’);
the expansion of the SERVICE CLASS(ES), existing between CAPITAL and LABOUR, and the appearance of ‘new social movements’ (e.g. ecological and womens movements), and a movement away from old ‘class politics’; these developments are associated with the decline of labour-intensive traditional heavy industry in the West, as the result of the export of jobs to the Third World and with the introduction of new flexible, knowledge-based and labour-saving forms of work organization in new high tech and service areas of production;
an increasing cultural fragmentation, pluralism, etc, including political pluralism, and the undermining of distinctive national identities, cultural values, etc;
a tendency for societies to be continuously transformed ‘from above’, and ‘from below’, so that ideas and cultures, industries and cities, as well as classes, are kept in a state of flux.

In contrast with earlier notions that ADVANCED CAPITALISM is either more organized than earlier forms of capitalism – by virtue of the introduction of state controls, monopoly, etc. – or will ultimately involve a final crisis, the concept of ‘disorganized capitalism’ in the above, modern, sense involves a doctrine neither of stability nor breakdown, but rather it sees continual adjustments within capitalism.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

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References in periodicals archive

To conclude, I would like to suggest that the Osho resort not only offers some critical insights into the nature of sacred space in this one particular site in South Asia but also opens much broader insights into the complex dynamics of sacred space and bodily practice in the context of globalization and the current economic system that has been variously called "late," "de-territorialized" or "disorganized capitalism" (Mandel 1975; Jameson 1990; Harvey 1990; Lash and Urry 1987).

Like the term postmodernism, the phrases late capitalism and disorganized capitalism have been used in many different ways by different theorists, but most often they refer to the shift from modern industrial or "Fordist" capitalism to the new forms of global capitalism that emerged following World War II, and above all since the 1960s and 70s (Harvey 1990).

Zorba the Buddha: the body, sacred space, and late capitalism in the Osho International Meditation Resort

After critiquing the work of the cultural theorists, he turns to the writings of theorists of the network society, finding flaws in their arguments about "disorganized capitalism" and its potential to undermine corporate capitalism and lead to greater personal freedom and community.

Culture, Society and Economy: Bringing Production Back In

In disorganized capitalism, the relation between banks and corporations becomes more episodically enacted and the old nationally-organized axis of finance capital fades--particularly as new governance norms deter bankers from sitting on corporate boards.

Disorganized Capitalism and the Changing Context of Corporate Power

Does disorganized capitalism disorganize corporate networks? *

Claus Offe argued that work is a central category for sociological thought (Disorganized Capitalism, London: Polity Press, 1984).

EMPLOYER ASSOCIATIONS AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CHANGE: CATALYSTS OR CAPTIVES?

Amid all that, postmodern capitalism raises concern about a shift from an era of organized to disorganized capitalism (Lash and Urry, 1987).

In an era of disorganized capitalism, the production of social differences is the most pressing hallmark of the postmodern drift in economy.

A Postmodern Theory of Industrial Democracy

What are the main implications of welfare capitalism revisited for the future of disorganized capitalism? Is Canada, in effect, "turning Japanese" by creating an enterprise-based welfare capitalism as a partial substitute for the welfare state and a weakening civil society?

Anyone wanting to understand the role of culture in workers' resistance and "consent" to Canadian capitalism, from the craft era to early welfare capitalism, and from Fordism to the disorganized capitalism of the Third Industrial Revolution, will want to read these books and engage the debates these authors have raised.

Capitalism comes to the backcountry: the Goodyear invasion of Napanee

A similar idea occurs in rather less nuanced form in certain theoiries of "disorganized capitalism."(2) Postmodernity then corresponds to a phase of capitalism where mass production of standardized goods, and the forms of labor associated with it, have been replaced by flexibility: new forms of production such as "lean production," the "team concept," and "Just-in-time" production; diversification of commodities for niche markets; a "flexible" labor force; mobile capital, and so on, all made possible by new informational technologies.

(2.) For the theory of"disorganized capitalism," see S.

Modernity, postmodernity, or capitalism?