Murphy, Peter (2014) The desktop factory of the new industrial revolution. Quadrant, 58 (10). pp. 32-35.

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Abstract

[Extract] In 1970 we stopped making things. More precisely, we lost the will to make things. Across the OECD, manufacturing shrank and industries relocated overseas. Germany was a rare exception to the rule.

The contraction of manufacturing was partly driven by economics. Cheap labour abroad beckoned. Yet the industrial shrinkage was just as much a cultural phenomenon. Big-government liberalism re-engineered social expectations. Attention shifted from production to distribution. The bureaucratic welfare state burgeoned. Corporate welfare and crony capitalism multiplied. Grants and allocations captured the social imagination. Making, producing and building seemed old-fashioned.

Item ID:	35688
Item Type:	Article (Commentary)
ISSN:	0033-5002
Related URLs:	Publisher
Date Deposited:	13 Oct 2014 04:18
FoR Codes:	16 STUDIES IN HUMAN SOCIETY > 1608 Sociology > 160805 Social Change @ 50% 20 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 2002 Cultural Studies > 200203 Consumption and Everyday Life @ 50%
SEO Codes:	97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970116 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society @ 100%
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