NOT FLEXIBLE ACCUMULATION - CONTRADICTIONS OF VALUE IN CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC-GEOGRAPHY .1. WORKPLACE AND INTERFIRM RELATIONS

In this and a subsequent paper, work by geographers that is based on t he idea that we are in a period of transition to an epoch of flexible accumulation, or post-Fordism, is examined. It is argued that this the sis relies on abstracting the technical and organisational aspects of current restructuring from its value relations. An account which inclu des value relations shows that the phenomena said to characterise flex ible accumulation are more contradictory and unstable, more varied, an d more open to struggle than is supposed in work in which a new epoch is assumed. An approach based on value relations can give a richer acc ount of current spatial-economic change. In this first paper, capital- labour relations within production, and the relations between firms ar e discussed.