ABSTRACT
In this chapter I will outline some of the significant features of Fordism as it is said to have existed as a distinctive and mature regime of accumulation within advanced capitalist societies from the end of the Second World War until the major economic crisis of the early 1970s. Unfortunately the sheer scale of Fordist social organisation coupled with the wide diversity of its influences necessarily makes any attempt at summary appear to be more schematic than is perhaps ideally desirable. Therefore, this chapter should be read as being deliberately synoptic. Rather than claiming to render any exhaustive account of the various nuances and inflections taken by Fordism over the period in question and across different geographical spaces, the broad character of Fordism is described.
