"GM suicide": Flexibility, space, and the injured body

While geographers have devoted much attention to the external geographies o f Japanese production models, little work has been clone on the internal ge ographies of the production process. This paper explores the relationship b etween lean production, space, and the body. Following Lowe (1995), we argu e that three practices code the body in late capitalism: post-Fordism and t he flexible labor market, cybernetic systems and their impact on the labor process, and the discourse of neoclassical economics. Together, these pract ices construct a laboring body susceptible to greater risk. In particular, we illustrate how lean production and the spatial reorganization of the sho pfloor are leading to greater risk of injury, especially repetitive strain injuries.