scholarly journals Industrial Relations in the U.S. Automobile Industry: An Illustration of Increased Decentralization and Diversity

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry C. Katz

This paper traces the evolution of employment relations in the U.S. auto industry over the post World War II period with particular emphasis on recent developments. There is a strong movement toward growing variation in employment relations within both the assembly and parts sectors of the auto industry. Variation appears both through the spread of more contingent compensation and team systems of work organization. There is also wide variety across plants and industry segments in basic employment systems including low wage, human resource, Japanese-oriented, and joint team-based approaches. Declining unionization is a particularly strong influence in the parts sector although nonunion operations have now spread to the assembly sector. While these trends are well illustrated by developments in the auto industry, they are trends common to other parts of the U.S. economy.

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-138
Author(s):  
David A. Hounshell

First experimented with in the 1920s and 1930s in the production of automobile engines, transfer machines became dominant in U.S. engine plants in the 1940s and 1950s, as automakers invested heavily in this equipment to meet pent-up demand following the war. Transfer machines thus became identified with “Detroit automation”. But with the advent of a “horsepower race”, firms found that transfer machines could not accommodate even minor changes in design. Late in the 1950s the industry developed and applied “building-block automation” to transfer machines to attain greater flexibility. Examining these developments contributes to our understanding of both specific industries and the general history of mass production and its alternatives.


2020 ◽  
pp. 79-92
Author(s):  
Burhanettin Duran

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the domestic and foreign policy agendas of all countries have been turned upside down. The pandemic has brought new problems and competition areas to states and to the international system. While the pandemic politically calls to mind the post-World War II era, it can also be compared with the 2008 crisis due to its economic effects such as unemployment and the disruption of global supply chains. A debate immediately began for a new international system; however, it seems that the current international system will be affected, but will not experience a radical change. That is, a new international order is not expected, while disorder is most likely in the post-pandemic period. In an atmosphere of global instability where debates on the U.S.-led international system have been worn for a while, in the post-pandemic period states will invest in self-sufficiency and redefine their strategic areas, especially in health security. The decline of U.S. leadership, the challenging policies of China, the effects of Chinese policies on the U.S.-China relations and the EU’s deepening crisis are going to be the main discussion topics that will determine the future of the international system.


2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Fleischman ◽  
R. Penny Marquette

The impact of World War II on cost accountancy in the U.S. may be viewed as a double-edged sword. Its most positive effect was engendering greater cost awareness, particularly among companies that served as military contractors and, thus, had to make full representation to contracting agencies for reimbursement. On the negative side, the dislocations of war, especially shortages in the factors of production and capacity constraints, meant that such “scientific management” techniques as existed (standard costing, time-study, specific detailing of task routines) fell by the wayside. This paper utilizes the archive of the Sperry Corporation, a leading governmental contractor, to chart the firm's accounting during World War II. It is concluded that any techniques that had developed from Taylorite principles were suspended, while methods similar to contemporary performance management, such as subcontracting, emphasis on the design phase of products, and substantial expenditure on research and development, flourished.


1992 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Higgs

Relying on standard measures of macroeconomic performance, historians and economists believe that “war prosperity” prevailed in the United States during World War II. This belief is ill-founded, because it does not recognize that the United States had a command economy during the war. From 1942 to 1946 some macroeconomic performance measures are statistically inaccurate; others are conceptually inappropriate. A better grounded interpretation is that during the war the economy was a huge arsenal in which the well-being of consumers deteriorated. After the war genuine prosperity returned for the first time since 1929.


Author(s):  
Julie Hubbert

Much has been said about the Nazi appropriation of Wagner’s music in the 1930s and 1940s. As early as 1933, Hitler transformed the Bayreuth Festival into a celebration of National Socialist ideology and propagated miniature Wagner festivals to celebrate his own birthday. Wagner’s music also resounded throughout the culture and media at large. What has been less understood and examined, however, is how this same music was also used in nonnarrative films, newsreels, government documentaries, and industrial and advertising films of the period. Here the appropriation of Wagner is more complex and problematic. Master Hands (1936), the critically acclaimed, feature-length industrial film sponsored by the American car company Chevrolet, is an excellent example. As several film scholars have observed, the film is an artistic advertisement for the American automobile industry that borrows heavily from Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will. But the film’s score, a compilation full of Wagner excerpts, arranged by composer Samuel Benavie and performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, about which almost nothing has been said, is equally propagandistic. By examining the music for this industrial advertisement for Chevrolet, this chapter not only re-examines the reception of Wagner in the United States between the World War I and World War II but also examines the integral role his music played in the creation of American films of persuasion. It explores the use U.S. industrial filmmakers made of Wagner’s music as an audible signifier not for German fascism but to advertise for American democracy, industry, and capitalism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-204
Author(s):  
Ozum Yesiltas

This study investigates the growing influence of Middle Eastern non-state actors as agents of foreign policy and their interactions with states through an analysis of the U.S.-Kurdish relationship. Incorporating archival data and interviews with Kurdish and American policy makers, the paper analyses the factors that have affected the U.S.-Kurdish relationship from World War II to the recent Syrian crisis in the context of the mainstream theoretical approaches within the discipline of International Relations. The article concludes that the failure to formulate a coherent Kurdish policy complicates the U.S.’ Middle East strategy and contributes to outcomes unfavourable to U.S. interests in the region.  Abstract in Kurmanji Hêza ji kenaran : Pêşniyara bo siyaseteke derveyî ya hevgirtî ya Dewletên Yekbûyî yên Amerîkayê li hemberî Kurdan Ev lêkolîn tesîra her ku diçe mezin dibe ya aktorên ne-dewletî li Rojhilata Navîn wek failên siyaseta derve, digel danûstandinên wan bi dewletan re, li ser hîma tehlîla têkiliya DYA û Kurdan vedikole. Bi vehewandina daneyên arşîvî û hevdîtinên li gel siyasetmedarên kurd û amerîkî, ev nivîsar nêrînên bîrdozî yên herî berbelav di  babetaTêkiliyên Navneteweyî de bi kar tîne, ji bo ku faktorên bandor li têkiliyên DYA-Kurd ji Şerê Cîhanê yê Duyem heta qeyrana surî ya dawîn  kirine, tehlîl bike. Nivîsar bi vê encamê digihîje ku têkçûna sazkirina siyaseteke kurd a hevgirtî ji bo stratejiya DYA ya li Rojhilata Navîn zehmetiyan derdixe û netîceyên neyînî bo berjewendiyên DYA jî bi xwe re tîne. Abstract in Sorani Hêzê Sînoran: Kurdan Reyde Mesela Sîyasetê Teberî yê DYA yê ‘Pêgirewteyî’ Pê analîzê têkilîya DYA û kurdan, no cigêrayîş Rojhelato Mîyanên de tesîrê averşîyayoxî yê aktoranê bêdewletanê sey ajananê sîyasetê teberî û dewletan reyde înteraksîyonanê nê aktoran tehqîq keno. Bi dayeyanê arşîvan û roportajanê qerardaranê sîyasetî reyde, no nuşte faktoranê ke Cengê Cîhanî yê II. ra heta krîzê Sûrîye yê nikayinî têkilîya DYA û kurdan ser o tesîr kerdo, ê faktoran çarçewaya teorîyanê bingeyênan yê beşê Têkilîya Mîyanneteweyî de analîz keno. Na meqale netîce de vana ke DYA besenêkerd polîtîkayêka kurdan a pêgirewtîye virazê, na kêmanîye kî Rojhelato Mîyanên de stratejîya DYA kena têmîyan û peynîye de faydeyê xo nêreseno menfeatanê DYA yê a herême. Abstract in Zazaki Destellat le kenarewe : keysêk derbarey hawrrayî le siyasetî derewey Emerîka da beramber be Kurdekan Em nûsîne le karîgerî geşesendinî hêzwektere bê-netewekan le ser siyasetî Rojhellatî Nawerrast da dekollêtewe, legell peywendiyan legell dewlletekan da le rêgayi şirovekirdinî peywendî nêwan wîlayete yekgirtwekanî Emerîka û Kurdekan da. Be têkellkirdinî datay erşîf û çawpêketin legell siyasetmedare emerîkî û Kurdekan da, em nûsîne şirovey ew fakterane dekat ke karîgeryan le ser peywendî nêwan wîlayete yekgrtwekanî emerîka û Kurdekan da hebuh le cengî cîhanî duwemewe heta qeyranî tazey Suriya, le çwarçêwey têore berbillawekan le zanistî peywendiye nîwdewlletiyekan da. Encamî wutareke eweye ke be hoy şikesthênan le dirustkirdinî siyasetêkî yekgirtû beramber Kurdekan, astengî bo planî Wîlayete Yekgrtwekanî Emerîka le Rojhellatî Nawerrast da dirust dekat û debête hoy dirustbûnî derencamî nerênî le qazancî Wîlayete Yekgirtwekanî Emerîka le nawçeke da.


Author(s):  
R. Goldman ◽  
R. Peterson

In the early 1970s, gas turbine technology had reached the stage where it became feasible to consider marinization of state-of-the-art aircraft engines. Approximately concurrently with these technological advances, the U.S. Navy had the need to project replacements for many of its conventionally propelled surface ships of World War II vintage. Characteristics of good fuel economy coupled with potentially viable reliability and maintenance characteristics conditioned the development of main and auxiliary gas turbine prime movers for ships. Ship design, therefore, was strongly influenced by previously unavailable power plant characteristics. New ships are building and others actively being designed to draw upon these technological advantages, and a broad base of support is being established to ensure the continued long range mobility of the U.S. Navy’s ships.


1994 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 1522
Author(s):  
Robert Bothwell ◽  
K. S. Coates ◽  
W. R. Morrison
Keyword(s):  

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