Tony Smith (3)

Tony Smith's "Technology and Capital in the Age of Lean Production" is an extremely thorough and detailed analysis of the process of lean production, its comparison to Fordism, the viability of the claims of lean production proponents, and the phenomenon's implications for Marxist theory. Smith goes into astounding detail in describing and analysing the shopfloor nuts and bolts of lean production as well as the ways in which different units of capital interact in this production form, and he shows that it is, indeed, a structurally new way of proceeding compared to the Fordist factory production that has dominated capitalism since the interbellum.

The various chapters are devoted to assessing every aspect of lean production from the perspectives of its supporters and subsequently of Marxist theorists, and this is not limited to just the surface phenomena of the production process - deskilling and globalization are given their due in this book as well. Refuting such silly "new economy" enthousiasts like Florida, Kenney and Womack, political philosopher Tony Smith demonstrates the complete applicability of the Marxist critique of capitalism to each and every real development demonstrable in lean production, and also that the change from Fordism to lean production serves to confirm rather than disprove the expectations of Marx & Engels on the relevant points. The final chapter then provides an alternative way of producing as conceived by Tony Smith, which seems to be basically a form of market socialism, heavily leaning on David Schweickart. Personally I consider market socialism to have significant flaws, but that need not detract from this book's value (and the chapter is rather an aside anyway).

It must be said that this book is written in a rather dry style, especially in the first chapters, and some intermediate knowledge of microeconomics is recommended. The very detail and in-depth discussion of the production processes and the various specialists' commentary on them make for excruciatingly slow reading, so that the just over 150 pages of actual text in this book may take as much as twice the usual time. But if one can find the patience, this book is very rewarding for any radical with an interest in economics.… (meer)