Transition and Labour in the United States: Industry and Employment in the Changing Political Economy of Knowledge Capitalism

Abstract

The history of capitalism in the United States since the crisis of the 1970s is marked by a process of global scope: the decline of industrialism. This represents the transition to a new era of capitalism as a mode of production. The US has experienced a set of interlocked processes, three of which are of fundamental interest for this article: the structural change from industrial to knowledge-based economy; the making of neoliberal policies that allowed for the financialisation of the economy and the weakening of unions; the transformation of the corporate model. Consequently, there is an intense downward pressure on wages, job quality and middle-class employment. This translates into the loss of benefits for workers and a decline in job security. This article addresses these processes through the lenses of an evolutionary theory of history. From this perspective, the observed changes are expressions of the transition to a post-industrial capitalism that entails destruction of old jobs and the creation of a pool of labour with limited bargaining capacity.