ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concept of ideological latency specifically the degree to which the Fordist mind-set persists as an interpretative and problem-solving device in so-called post-industrial societies. It explores the experiences of Detroit's urban farmers and small-time entrepreneurs in their efforts to revitalise a severely decayed inner-city economy. The chapter suggests that while Detroit's social entrepreneurs embrace such post-Fordist concepts as diversification, flexibility, individuation, improvisation and responsiveness. The city's politicians, bureaucrats, business people and industrialists adhere to Fordist concepts like rationalisation, scale, massification, hierarchical management structures, the privileging of expert over other, more grounded forms of knowledge, top-down planning and scientific and technological innovation. It is concluded that the Fordist mind-set or idiom lingers on. The spontaneous planting of vacant land by unemployed residents and incomers represents the purest articulation of the late-modern blueprint. The Risk Society thesis plays out in citizens' awareness of their plight and direct experience of disamenity and threat.
