World of Possibilities: Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511563652

This book retells the history of Western industrialization, revealing possibilities unexplored in the nineteenth century, variants of which have come to transform present day economies. It shows that economic actors have historically been more aware of the great strategic choices they faced than standard theory credits them with being, and this surprising acuity allows them to imagine and put into practice solutions which current theories of industrial organization have scarcely anticipated. The book is therefore at one and the same time a contribution to a substantive revision of the history of mechanized production and a propaedeutic in a form of explanation that approximates the knowledge of the actor to the knowledge of the theorist. The volume groups essays presented by a multinational team of historians and social scientists drawing on intensive primary research on a wide range of firms, regions, sectors and national economies in Western Europe and the United States from the eighteenth century to the 1990s.

‘This excellent book … is a scholarly and rigorous academic text, drawing upon a wide range of multi-national research, impressive in its historical breadth and depth. It makes us think about how we think and write history … It is quite simply good history.’

Source: Labour History Review

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi
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Contents
pp vii-viii
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List of contributors
pp ix-ix
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Acknowledgments
pp x-x
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Stories, strategies, structures: rethinking historical alternatives to mass production
pp 1-34
- By Charles F. Sabel, Jonathan Zeitlin
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Part I - The modernity of tradition
pp 35-36
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1 - Fashion as flexible production: the strategies of the Lyons silk merchants in the eighteenth century
pp 37-74
- By Carlo Poni
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2 - The fate of collective manufactures in the industrial world: the silk industries of Lyons and London, 1800–1850
pp 75-152
- By Alain Cottereau
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3 - The rise and decline of flexible production: the cutlery industry of Solingen since the eighteenth century
pp 153-187
- By Rudolf Boch
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4 - Manufacturing flexibility in nineteenth-century Switzerland: social and institutional foundations of decline and revival in calico-printing and watchmaking
pp 188-238
- By Beatrice Veyrassat
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Part II - The battle of the systems
pp 239-240
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5 - Between flexibility and mass production: strategic ambiguity and selective adaptation in the British engineering industry, 1830–1914
pp 241-272
- By Jonathan Zeitlin
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6 - The lost paradigm: an Italian metalworking empire between competing models of production, 1900–1920
pp 273-309
- By Alain Dewerpe
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7 - “Have a heart for the manufacturers!”: production, distribution and the decline of American textile manufacturing
pp 310-343
- By Philip Scranton
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8 - The small-holder economy in Denmark: the exception as variation
pp 344-378
- By Peer Hull Kristensen, Charles Sabel
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Part III - The resurgence of flexible production
pp 379-380
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9 - In search of flexibility: the Bologna metalworking industry, 1900–1992
pp 381-418
- By Vittorio Capecchi
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10 - Local industry and actors' strategies: from combs to plastics in Oyonnax
pp 419-460
- By Jean Saglio
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11 - Producing producers: shippers, shipyards and the cooperative infrastructure of the Norwegian maritime complex since 1850
pp 461-500
- By Håkon Andersen
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Index
pp 501-510
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World of Possibilities

Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-vi

Contents
pp vii-viii

List of contributors
pp ix-ix

Acknowledgments
pp x-x

Stories, strategies, structures: rethinking historical alternatives to mass production
pp 1-34

Part I - The modernity of tradition
pp 35-36

1 - Fashion as flexible production: the strategies of the Lyons silk merchants in the eighteenth century
pp 37-74

2 - The fate of collective manufactures in the industrial world: the silk industries of Lyons and London, 1800–1850
pp 75-152

3 - The rise and decline of flexible production: the cutlery industry of Solingen since the eighteenth century
pp 153-187

4 - Manufacturing flexibility in nineteenth-century Switzerland: social and institutional foundations of decline and revival in calico-printing and watchmaking
pp 188-238

Part II - The battle of the systems
pp 239-240

5 - Between flexibility and mass production: strategic ambiguity and selective adaptation in the British engineering industry, 1830–1914
pp 241-272

6 - The lost paradigm: an Italian metalworking empire between competing models of production, 1900–1920
pp 273-309

7 - “Have a heart for the manufacturers!”: production, distribution and the decline of American textile manufacturing
pp 310-343

8 - The small-holder economy in Denmark: the exception as variation
pp 344-378

Part III - The resurgence of flexible production
pp 379-380

9 - In search of flexibility: the Bologna metalworking industry, 1900–1992
pp 381-418

10 - Local industry and actors' strategies: from combs to plastics in Oyonnax
pp 419-460

11 - Producing producers: shippers, shipyards and the cooperative infrastructure of the Norwegian maritime complex since 1850
pp 461-500

Index
pp 501-510

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World of Possibilities

Flexibility and Mass Production in Western Industrialization

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