Transforming South Africa's Economy: From Racial-Fordism to Neo-Fordism?

One of the most significant debates of the present period revolves around attempts to account for the rapidly changing nature of global capitalism, and, in particular, the paradigm shift in production methods from 'Fordism' to 'post-Fordism'. This article examines how such a global phenomenon has impacted on South Africa in the period 1980-95. The analysis begins with a clarification of concepts used. A hybrid typology is employed as a means of signifying the coexistence of a multiplicity of labour processes. It is a conceptual device aimed at overcoming the tendency within the international and South African literature which assumes an all-pervasive dominance of one production paradigm across the entire economy. The article then evaluates all available evidence regarding the diffusion of the new technologies and managerial techniques in the South African manufacturing sector. The predilection towards neo-Fordism and the absence of a clear shift to post-Fordist methods of production is interpreted as a consequence of key structural and conjunctural constraints on technological, social and economic change. The article concludes by assessing the new macroeconomic policy proposals which have arisen since the resounding electoral victory of the African National Congress (ANC) and its leader, Nelson Mandela, in South Africa's first ever democratic elections in April 1994. The remarkable similarity between these policy propositions and the principal features of post-Fordism are critically reviewed.