ABSTRACT
One important role of vocational educators in contemporary America involves monitoring the nature of the changing workplace in light of our notions of good and bad work and informing students as to the nature of the workplaces they will enter. Any social foundations of work and vocational education must examine the human costs of technological change and the workplaces and jobs it produces. This chapter explores the political economy of contemporary society, analyzing the impact of new forms of social organization on the future of work and vocational education. The use of such terms as "post-Fordism" or "high-tech economy" sometimes inaccurately portrays economic and political power relations in contemporary society. The term "technopower" can be used to describe the expansion of corporate influence through the use of post-Fordist technological development. The politics of corporatism redefines equality in terms of the right to form a business and compete in the marketplace.
