EDM 6022
Education and Development
Globalization & Education:
The Global-Informational Capitalism
& Its Educational Consequences
Wing-kwong Tsang
Ho Tim Bldg. Room 416; Ext. 6922;
wktsang@cuhk.edu.hk; www.fed.cuhk.edu.hk/~wktsang
The Advent of Informational-Global
Economy and the End of Capitalism?
Statement of the Problem

The proponents:
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
Bill Gate’s thesis of Friction-Free Capitalism
Peter Drucker’s thesis of Post-Capitalist
Society
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Industrial revolution: Knowledge applied tools,
process, and products
Productivity revolution: Knowledge applied to
work
Management revolution: Knowledge applied to
knowledge
The Advent of Informational-Global
Economy and the End of Capitalism?
Statement of the Problem

The opponents:


Another stage, if not the highest stage, of
capitalism
Historical outline of the development of
capitalism

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Mercantile capitalism: 1500-1800
Industrial capitalism: 1800-1940
Organized capitalism: 1950-1970
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Fordism
Welfare-state corporatism
Informational-global capitalism
Explication of Basic Conceptual Tools

Informational and the information Technology
Paradigm (Castells, 1996)
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Information is the raw material and technologies are
used to act on information.
Information and information technology rise to the
central and primary position in enhancing productivity
and generating wealth
The pervasiveness of effects of IT
The permeation of the network logics
Explication of Basic Conceptual Tools
“The Atom is the past. The symbol of science for the next
century is the dynamical Net … Whereas the Atom
represents clean simplicity, the Net channels the messy
power of complexity. …The only organization capable of
nonprejudiced growth, or unguided learning is a network.
All other typologies limited what can happen. A network
swarm is all edges and therefore open ended any way you
come at it. Indeed, the network is the least structured
organization that can be said to have any structure at
all. …In fact a plurality of truly divergent components can
only remain coherent in a network. No other arrangement –
chain, pyramid, tree, circle, hub – can contain ture diversity
work as a whole.” (Kelly, 1995, p.25-27 quoted in Castells,
19976, note71, p. 61-62)
Explication of Basic Conceptual Tools

Informational and the information Technology
Paradigm (Castells, 1996)


The flexibility of processes, organizations and
institutions
The converging and integrative capacity of IT system
Explication of Basic Conceptual Tools

Capitalism: As a mode of production
characterized by the following features
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Domination of capital over other means of production,
including labor
Labor power is bought and sold by money wages
Production for sale rather than for own use; production
for exchange value rather use value
Commoditfication as the primary dynamics of the mode
of production: MCPC’M’, i.e. Money capital 
Commodity (i.e. labor and the means of production) 
Production  Commodity (products)  Money
Competition among capitalist
From Fordist-Keynesian Capitalism
to Informational Global Capitalism

The crisis of Fordistic production process
(Tony Smith)

Crisis in factor inputs


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High raw material costs (especially oil
High inventory costs
Inflexibility of set-ups of machinery and assembly line
From Fordist-Keynesian Capitalism
to Informational Global Capitalism

The crisis of Fordistic production process
(Tony Smith)

Crisis in circulation time and cost

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Lengthy delivery times between suppliers and
assemblers
Extended interruptions in production due to the need to
retool
The length of time required to make decisions with an
extensive corporate bureaucracy
The time required to correct quality problems
The time demanded to work off previous inventories
The length of time required to institute innovation, due
to separation of design engineers and production
personnel
From Fordist-Keynesian Capitalism
to Informational Global Capitalism

The crisis of Fordistic production process
(Tony Smith)

Crisis in capital / labor relation

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Mounting unproductive expenses connected with
supervison of the workforce
Worker resistance at the point of production in overt
and indirect form (strike and absenteerism,
respectively)
Wage increases not match by productivity advances
due to collective bargaining through unionism
Quality control stemming from the separation of quality
control to a separate department
From Fordist-Keynesian Capitalism
to Informational Global Capitalism

The crisis of Fordistic production process
(Tony Smith)

Crisis in capital / consumer relation


Inability to respond promptly to shifts in consumer
demands
The mass production of standardized products
prevented from producing customized or customerdesigned products
From Fordist-Keynesian Capitalism
to Informational Global Capitalism

Italian and Japanese initiations to the crisis of
Fordism

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The third Italy model
Toyotism
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The Just-In-Time (JIT) model
Total Quality Control (TQC) model: Assumption of five
zeros (zero defect in the parts, zero mischief in the
machines, zero inventory, zero delay, and zero
paperwork)
Involvement of workers and emphasis on multifunctional specialization and teamwork: Quality circles
The constitution of the Informationalglobal economy
•
Constitution of global division of labor
•
•
•
•
Producers of high value, based on
informational labor
Producers of high volume, based on low-cost
labor
Producers of raw materials, based on natural
endowment
Redundant producer
The constitution of the Informationalglobal economy

Constitution of global production network:
Microelectronic and computer as examples

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R&D, innovation, and prototype fabrication in
“Technopolis”
Skilled fabrication in branch plants in newly
industrializing areas in core countries
Semi-skilled, large-scale assembly and testing
work in offshore newly industrialized countries
Customization of device and aftersales
maintenance and support in regional centers
throughout the globe
The constitution of the Informationalglobal economy

Constitution of global production network:
Microelectronic and computer as examples




R&D, innovation, and prototype fabrication in
“Technopolis”
Skilled fabrication in branch plants in newly
industrializing areas in core countries
Semi-skilled, large-scale assembly and testing
work in offshore newly industrialized countries
Customization of device and aftersales
maintenance and support in regional centers
throughout the globe
The constitution of the Informationalglobal economy


Constitution of global finance network:
Capital and information flows around the
globe via hubs and nodes, i.e. international
financial centers
Constitution of global distribution of
consumer goods and services, via global
metropolis
The constitution of the Informationalglobal economy

The constitution of the Informational-global
capitalism:
“It is informational because the productivity and
competitiveness of units or agents in this economy (be it
firms, regions, or nations) fundamentally depend upon their
capacity to generate, process, and apply efficiently
knowledge-based information. It is global because the core
activities of production, consumption, and circulation, as
well as their components (capital, labor, raw materials,
management, information, technology, markets) are
organized on a global scale either directly or through
network of linkages between economic agents.” (Castells,
1996, p. 66) “It is an economy is an economic system
“based on the capacity of IT to be able to work as a unit in
real time on a planetary scale.” (Castells, 1996, p.92)
The constitution of the network
enterprise
•
Internal organization form of network
enterprise: Horizontal corporation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Flexible specification and multi-functional workers
Flat and networked hierarchy
Team management
Autonomous but accountable teamwork and/or quality
circle
Measuring performance by customer satisfaction
Reward based on team performance
Maximization of contact with suppliers and customers,
and swift responses to feedbacks by retooling or even
reengineering
Information, training and retaining of workers
The constitution of the network
enterprise

External organization of network
enterprise
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Multidirectional networking with small and
medium business
Licensing-subcontracting
Corporate strategic alliance
The constitution of the network
enterprise

Manuel Castells characterizes network enterprise as
“specific form of enterprise whose system of means is
constituted by the intersection of segments of
autonomous system of goals. Thus, the components
of the network are both autonomous and dependent
vis-a-vis the network. …The performance of given
network will then depend on two fundamental
attributes to the network: its connectedness, that is its
structural ability to facilitate noise-free communication
between its components; its consistency, that is the
extent to which there is sharing of interests between
the network’s goals and the goals of its components.”
(1996, p.171)
The transformation of work and
employment: Debate on Jobless
society
•
•
Automation and computerization will cause rise of
unemployment and even a “jobless future (Aronwitz &
DiFazio, 1994)
Carnoy (2000) and Castells (1996) argue that the
jobless thesis is too simplified and misleading.
Castells (1996, p. 228-9) characterize the
transformation of employment and occupational
structure as follows
The transformation of work and
employment: Debate on Jobless
society
•
Carnoy (2000) and Castells (1996) argue that the
jobless thesis is too simplified and misleading.
Castells (1996, p. 228-9) characterize the
transformation of employment and occupational
structure as follows
•
•
•
•
•
The phasing out of agricultural employment
The steady decline of traditional manufacturing employment
The rise of both producer services and social services, with the
emphasis on business service in the first category, and health
services in the second group
The increasing diversification of service activities as sources
of jobs
The rapid rise of managerial, professional, and technical jobs
The transformation of work and
employment: Debate on Jobless
society
•
Carnoy (2000) and Castells (1996) argue that the
jobless thesis is too simplified and misleading.
Castells (1996, p. 228-9) characterize the
transformation of employment and occupational
structure as follows (continued)
•
•
•
•
The formation of a “white-collar” proletariat, made up of
clerical and sales workers
The relative stability of a substantial share of employment in
retail trade
The simultaneous increase of the upper and lower levels of the
occupational structure
The relative upgrading of the occupational structure over time,
with an increasing share of those occupations that require
higher skills and advanced education proportionally higher
than the increase of the lower-level categories
Harvey’s Fragmented labor market in Flexible Accumulation
of Capitalism (1996, p.171)
Transformation of work: The rise of
Netwrokers and Flextimers
•
The New division of labor in network enterprise
has transformed “work” in the following ways
(Castells, 1996, 243-45)
•
Value-making: It refers to the actual task performed
in a given work process
•
•
•
•
•
•
The commanders
The researchers
The designers
The integrators
The operators
The operated
Transformation of work: The rise of
Netwrokers and Flextimers
•
The New division of labor in network enterprise
has transformed “work” in the following ways
(Castells, 1996, 243-45)
•
Relation-making: It refers to the relationship
between a given organization and its environment,
including other organizations
•
•
•
The networkers
The networked
The switched-off
Transformation of work: The rise of
Netwrokers and Flextimers
•
The New division of labor in network enterprise
has transformed “work” in the following ways
(Castells, 1996, 243-45)
•
Decision-making: It refers to the relationship
between managers and employees in a given
organization
•
•
•
The deciders
The participant
The executants
Transformation of work: The rise of
Netwrokers and Flextimers

Flexibility of work changes important elements of
work in the following four ways
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The notion of time: Flexible work means less employed time
than a thirty-five- or forty-hour per week full-year job
The notion of permanency: Flexible work is based explicitly
on a fixed-term contract with no commitment for future
employment
The notion of location: Although the vast majority of
workers still work at business sites, increasing numbers of
independent contractors work not on-site but in their
homes
The notion of social contract between employer and
employee: the traditional contract based on reciprocal
rights, protections, and obligation is rapidly relinquishing.
The consequence of the rise of
informational-global capitalism
•
Polarization of classes
•
•
Polarization between globally mobile capitalists
and locally pit-downed proletariat
Polarization between mobile “core labor force” of
information-global economy made up of
information-based managers and “symbolic
analysts” and “disposable labor force” that can be
automated and/or hired/fired/offshored
The consequence of the rise of
informational-global capitalism
•
Thesis of deskilling:
•
•
•
•
For core labor force, the deskilling thesis does not
applied, but workers in the core labor force must
constantly reskill or “reprogram” oneself to survive
the competitions in global-informational capitalism
For the disposable labor force, the deskilling thesis
does applied. However, they do not only
experiencing deskilling but also skill and job
obsolescence
Intensified structural coercion and exploitation
thesis
Intensified competitions among capitalists
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism
•
Education in Fordist Capitalism: Bowles and
Gintis’ Schooling in Capitalist America (1976)
•
•
Marxian Critique of the Human Capital Theory
The reproductive functions of capitalist schooling
system
•
•
•
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Producing the technical and cognitive skill of labor
Producing the personalities necessary for the modes
of control in capitalist labor process
Legitimizing the economic inequality of capitalism
and inculcating the value of possessive individualism
Constituting and reinforcing the fragmented and
stratified consciousness of the subordinate economic
classes
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism
•
Education in Fordist Capitalism:
•
The Correspondence principle in capitalist
schooling
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The structure correspondence between the social
relations of the schooling system and those of
capitalist workplace
“The structure of the social relations on
education…inures the students to the discipline of
the workplace”
It “develops the types of personal demeanor, modes
of self-presentation, self-image, and social-class
identifications which are the crucial ingredients of job
adequacy”.
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism
•
Education in Fordist Capitalism:
•
The Correspondence principle in capitalist
schooling
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The hierarchical relations between administrators and
teachers, teachers and students, and among students
replicate the hierarchical division of labor and vertical
authority lines in the workplace.
The alienating features in schooling learning prepare
students for the alienating features in the Fordist
labor process
The “destructive competition among students
through continual and ostensibly meritocratic ranking
and evaluation” nurtures the fragmented and
stratified consciousness in the workplace and
legitimatize the economic inequality in capitalism.
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism
•
Education in Fordist Capitalism:
•
Differentiation of correspondence principles
between the education stratification and the
occupational hierarchy
Independent,
Creative, Aggressive
Goal Setting
Rule Setting
Dependable,
Self-disciplined,
Self-sufficient
Patient, compliant,
obedient, docile
Educational Hierarchy
Rule Implementing
Rule Following
Occupational Hierarchy
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism

Education in Informational-Global Capitalism

Distinction between neo- and post-Fordism (Brown
and Lauder, 1997)
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“Neo-Fordism can be characterized in terms of
creating greater flexibility market through a reduction
in social overheads and power of trade unions, the
privatization of public utilities and the welfare state.”
(1997, p. 176)
“Post-Fordism can be defined in terms of the
development of the state as a ‘strategic trader’ shaping
the direction of the national economy through
investment in key economic sectors and in the
development of human capital. ...Post-Fordism is
based on a shift to ‘high-value’ customized production
and services using multi-skilled workers.” (1997, 176)
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism

Education in Informational-Global Capitalism

Education initiatives corresponding neo-Fordism
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Education of vocationalism: Tighter and more direct
corresponding between education outputs and
workplace requirement
Commdification of education and education for
performativity: Tighter and more direct corresponding
between education outputs and market imperative
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism

Education in Informational-Global Capitalism
 Education initiative corresponding post-Fordism
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Education of flexible specialization in labor process:
Replacement of education of specialized knowledge
and skill with education for generic skills and multiple
intelligences.
Education for participatory labor process in network
enterprise: Replacement of education for docile and
disciplined bodies and minds with education for team
work and collaborative learning
Education for innovation: Replacement of rote learning
with creative learning
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism

Education in Informational-Global Capitalism
 Education initiative corresponding post-Fordism


Education for networking capacities in network
enterprise: Replacement of education for textual
literacy with education for communicative skills and
computer literacy
Education for globalism: Replacement of education for
localism (i.e. locl or national identity) and vernacular
with education for globalism and global language
Educational Consequences of the
Constitution of Informational-Global
Capitalism

Degree of correspondence in correspondence
principle: Burden of proof of the causality
between school and workplace