Reflections on the transition from fordism to flexible accumulation. Devaluation of labor and generalization of precarity in the era of Financial Globalization

Abstract

This article addresses the impacts of neoliberal deregulation and the widespread precarity in labour relations and the lives of workers in advanced capitalist societies. By analysing the transition from Fordism to flexible accumulation and the consolidation of neoliberalism, it is possible to identify an intense period of commodification and devaluation of labour, with new strategies for capital accumulation that organize social life through neoliberal rationality, market expansion, deregulation, and the culturalization of precarity. It is shown that this scenario promotes increased performance, fatigue, uncertainty, and insecurity, crystallizing precarity in both the work and the lifestyles of the working classes.