Work and Leisure

56 Chris Rojekmain factors of production – labour, raw materials, plant, transport – is morecompetitive than in the West.The rise of flexible accumulation was accelerated by the growth of theknowledge-based sector. Biotechnology, computers and service industriesrequire a different skills-base than Fordism. Flexible accumulation is based ininnovation, adaptability and mobility. Fordism is based in predictability,standardisation and routine. Flexible accumulation requires flexible workers,with a knowledge and skill-base that enables them to switch operationsaccording to market challenges. Flexible workers are concomitant withthe individualisation of the work contract, since the essence of innovation,adaptation and mobility is versatility.The reconstruction of the concept of ‘work career’The globalisation and deregulation of the labour market brings with it theindividualisation of work, which in turn redefines the traditional post-warconcept of the work career. The notions of a job for life, or of following anunbroken career pattern between leaving school or university and retirement,are no longer tenable for the mass of workers. Flexible workers must beprepared to follow work opportunities and retrain. Portfolio and fixed contractemployment becomes more pronounced in the labour market. Thishas implications for old-age provision, since the globalisation and individualisationof employment is not compatible with traditional national insuranceand occupational pension arrangements. Flexible workers have a high propensityto develop their own private pension schemes, and also to default oncontributions if they fail to renew employment contracts.The increasing significance of the trans-nationalcorporationGlobalisation and flexible accumulation imply global brand recognition.Companies intent on maximising margins, and therefore minimising the riskof takeovers, aim to achieve monopolistic or quasi-monopolistic marketshares. Trans-nationalism is the inevitable consequence of the globalisation ofproduction and consumption. Both capital and the consumer become increasinglyde-territorialised and disembedded. Mass communications intensify thisby eliciting ‘real-world’ time, in which data are instantly exchanged andconsciousness of interdependence and simultaneity are heightened.Sociological consequencesThe sociological consequences of these changes in the market for the work–leisure relationship are varied. The decline of Fordism and the rise of flexibleaccumulation in the West, have increased the size of the knowledge and