THE SOCIAL REPRODUCTION OF FLEXIBILITY IN THE HOUSING ENVIRONMENT: STORIES FROM INNER-CITY GDAŃSK

• Authors: Stefan BUZAR , Maja GRABKOWSKA
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

“Flexibility” and “fluidity” are the buzzwords of the 21st century. Regimes of ‘flexible specialisation’ [Piore and Sabel, 1984; Storper, 1989; Phelps, 1992] and ‘flexible accumulation’ [Harvey, 1987; 1989; Wood, 1991] have transformed the nature of capitalist production. The appearance of industrial districts that resemble ‘sticky places in slippery space’ [Markusen, 1996] has been accompanied by deep-seated shifts in the structure of labour and Capital markets, as firms and locales have started to compete with each other across national borders [Killick, 1994; Scott, 1988]. The globalisation and liberalisation of economic flows has lead to the “flexibilisation” of work and employment, entailing both the dismantlingof regulations and institutions protecting workers and the increasing prevalence of work arrangements that enable employees to meet the demands of longer opening hours, ‘round-the-clock demand’ and ‘just-in time production’ [Wallace, 2003]. Workers are now expected to be morę mobile and adaptable to the changing reąuirements of the labour market, as employment contracts become shorter and there is a greater need for part- and flexible-time contracts such as annualised hours, overtime, shift work, and time sharing [Wallace, 2003].

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Opolski, Wydział Ekonomiczny
• Journal: Economic and Environmental Studies
• Year: 2006
• Volume: 8
• Pages: 157-175

Dates

published

2020-12-10

Contributors

author

Stefan BUZAR

author

Maja GRABKOWSKA