Use of low-wage labour maximised, effective mechanisms for empowering labour minimised. Also new technologies designed to separate low-wage and skill jobs from high, maximising locational options for the company. 2: Dispersal and New Forms of CentralizationĢ6 Dismantling of old industrial centres in highly developed countries, end of Fordism. ie, cities.ĥ Second thesis: Cities are sites of production (of services, markets and financial innovations), not just (as the idea of postindustrialism indicates) sites of management.ħ Third thesis: How does the decline of manufacturing in traditional industrial cities, combined with thesis one affect cities and their relations to each other?ĩ What are the social impacts of these changes? (eg, employment and equality). She focuses on this production, shifting the emphasis to “the practices that constitute what we call economic globalisation and global control.” 1: OverviewĤ First thesis of the book: “The territorial dispersal of current economic activity creates a need for expanded central control and management.”. Sassen says that the capabilities in global communications and the power of multinationals must be produced. Xxii Dominant discourse states cities are declining as important economic units due to global communications and multinationals. But, while it has interesting points, the weight of the economic stats meant it took me two months to get round to finishing the thing. There is some discussion on “softer” topics that were more interesting to me, such as growing inequality due to the change in nature of the financial markets, and, briefly, the effect on urban structure (eg, gentrification). The bulk of the book is about the global financial markets’ relationship to these cities and it’s packed with statistics - not the most fun read ever. While the book is undoubtedly oriented around cities, very little of it is about the structure or sociology of urban places.
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