Acerca do modelo de produção do século XX

"In his forthcoming book, Craft: An American History, scholar Glenn Adamson traces the relentless erosion of craftsmanship that occurred as the U.S. transitioned from a nation of artisans to an industrialized economy. In it, he retells a familiar story about Henry Ford and his newfangled assembly line with an interesting twist, which is worth quoting at length:
.
In the first year of the assembly line, so many workers walked out of the Ford plant in disgust that more than 52,000 had to be hired just to maintain a constant labor force of 14,000. Though the company had massively deskilled the process of assembly, each new employee still had to be trained. This was an inefficiency Ford had not counted on. Famously, he raised wages to five dollars per day, far above the industry norm, just to keep workers on the job. Later this was spun as a brilliant maneuver to help his own employees afford Model Ts, turning them into consumers. Actually, it was a means of coping with a self-inflicted management crisis. In any case, Ford did not have to pay these high wages for long. As the entire industry shifted to the assembly line—and then other sectors of the economy followed suit—workers had little choice but to submit to the new manufacturing techniques."

Os humanos gostam de variedade, gostam de se diferenciar, não apreciam a uniformidade da produção em massa. No entanto, no século XX, tiveram de se submeter a ela para ter acesso a bens baratos. Há muito que escrevo aqui que praticamente toda a gente acha que o modelo de produção do século XX é o modelo definitivo e que qualquer desvio face a esse modelo é um ataque aos trabalhadores.

Como não sorrir ao comparar essa crença a estes picos:

Daqui a 100 anos os humanos vão olhar para trás e horrorizar-se com o modelo de produção do século XX.

Venha Mongo!

Trecho retirado de "Restoring craft to work"