CMNS 353 Lecture 6: CMNS 353 LECTURE 6
18 Jan 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
The success of cola power (and failure of water) in Scotland
• In the 1820s and 30s Scottish capitalists faced a choice between water and coal power
• Water, despite the popular narrative, was not led efficient
• Yet water required close coordination between capitalists and with governments to divert streams and
rivers and plan use, the capitalists all wanting to benefit “in equal proportion”
• Water schemes mostly failed because capitalists failed to agree to collective planning, coordination
and funding.
• Capitalism is inherently competitive
• Capitalism predisposed to non-coordination
• Coal required no coordination and also meant that factories could be in the city (where labor was
cheaper and less rebellious)
Fordism: the context of manufacturing in North American and Europe, 1913-1973
• Mass production, the mass worker, mass consumption/consumerism, alliance between big capital and
big unionism, state-managed capitalism.
◦ Labour/People need purchase the produces/union number issue/ to support the
consumptions/ healthy work place
Automation of machinists’ labour : numerical control (N/C) and record playback (R/P)
