Regulation theory

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As regulation theory be political-economic approaches referred to the French Regulation School to Michel Aglietta go back and try phases of stability amid the immanent crisis-like mode of production of capitalism to explain.

The approaches that emerged from the mid-1970s are based on the neo-Marxist structuralism of Louis Althusser , but attempt to dynamize it. Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural hegemony , the socio-historical tradition of the Annales School and institutionalist currents had a formative influence.

Since the 1970s, the school of regulation has developed into two important currents. While the more institutionalist branch around Robert Boyer found connection to the mainstream of French institutional economics , the branch that emerged from the early representatives Michel Aglietta and Alain Lipietz had an important influence on the formation of Marxist theory and is today in Germany by Joachim Hirsch , in Great Britain by Bob representing Jessop .

Starting point and creation

In the 1970s, France's stagflation following the global oil crisis challenged the prevailing assumption that a crisis-free development of capitalism could be ensured through Keynesian control. Recourse to the economically liberal neoclassical theories or monetarism , which was gaining in importance in the USA , stood in the way of Althusser's very large influence in France.

Structuralist Marxism, however, could not explain why dependent, stable structures develop on the one hand and last for a long time, and on the other hand they regularly collapse again in the form of profound crises. It was even more difficult to find an explanation as to why these structures took on the most varied of forms in different states and epochs, and yet played a very similar role in stabilization. It was therefore necessary to examine the stabilizing moments more closely, regardless of their concrete form.

This gave rise to the basic question of regulation theory, in the words of Joachim Hirsch: “How is a society held together that is structurally threatened by crises and social disintegration processes that threaten the existence of the company due to its economic reproductive mechanism?” The group around Aglietta and Lipietz found explanations in Antonio Gramsci's theory cultural hegemony, according to which “the life of the state is to be grasped as a continuous formation and overcoming of unstable equilibria” and stability arises through the internalization of the power relations.

Aglietta drew key principles of regulation theory as early as 1976 in his dissertation Régulation et crises du capitalisme. L'expériences des Etats-Unis . With 'regulation' he uses a term coined by Gérard Destanne de Bernis .

Central concepts

Accumulation regime

Regulation theory, following Marxism here, sees a compulsion to accumulate capital in capitalism ; But this can take different forms at different times, which can be assigned to a certain type ex post , the accumulation regime . An accumulation regime is the organization of production and capital flows including the mode of remuneration, the production and distribution of surplus value , the state quota and its flexibility.

The accumulation regime describes the growth periods of the development of a capitalist economic system with the interplay of transformation, norms of production and consumption as well as the organization of the economy and society. It is supposed to ensure the satisfaction of people's needs through a certain production method of goods .

Historically exemplary is the Fordist accumulation regime , in which standardized products (e.g. the “T5” car model) went hand in hand with full employment and high wages . High-wage workers could easily afford a “Ford” ; their consumption further boosted production ( positive feedback ). Even in the times of the economic miracle , production was a guarantee of prosperity ; Workers were even paid proportionately to profit.

Since today many needs in the industrialized countries are satisfied in the form of goods (television, refrigerator , telephone, car), it is difficult to find a new accumulation regime. Social needs that undoubtedly exist, such as pensions, care, education and childcare, can not by themselves lead to a new accumulation regime without intervention from outside the market . The importance of biotechnology as a possible leading technology of a new accumulation regime , which is vaguely called post-Fordism , is incalculable . Changing an accumulation regime has so far been a crisis .

Regulation mode

At the interface between economic and social spheres, material production , state rule, and ideological forms of thought form a mode of regulation that stabilizes the accumulation regime . This consists of state institutions, apparatuses, social networks , forms of mass consumption and lifestyle as well as other norms. The design of the regulation mode is fundamentally open and subject to social power relations and cultural hegemony . The stabilization of Fordism in this way would have been unthinkable without the state model of the welfare state in conjunction with influential trade unions (see also: corporatism ).

Hegemonic structure

The specific connection between the modes of accumulation and regulation that emerges historically - i.e. the type of utilization of capital and the way in which this utilization is secured politically and ideologically - is ultimately referred to as the respective hegemonic structure .

Historical sequence from the perspective of regulation theory

time logic Accumulation regime Regulation mode era Leading technology
~ 1850 Artisanal individual production Night watchman state ; Hierarchical society pre-industrial Machinization
~ 1923 Extensification Small industrial series production Liberalism ; Class society Manchester - capitalism Electrification ; chemistry
~ 1975 Intensification Large-scale industrial mass production Welfare state ; Corporatism Fordism Petroleum ; automobile
~ 2006 Flexibility Network company ; Outsourcing Individualization ; Neoliberalism ; lifestyle Postfordism Microelectronics ; Information technology
2006 ~ sustainability individuated self-exploitation ; Biopatents Dehumanization ; State capitalism ; customized deformation Anthropocene Desecularization ; Knowledge economy

Expanded according to the draft: HH Blotevogel 1998

Extends POST-2015

literature

  • Michel Aglietta : Regulation et crises du capitalisme. L'expériences des Etats-Unis . Calmann-Lévy, Paris 1976, ISBN 2-7021-0161-5 .
  • Michel Aglietta: A New Accumulation Regime . VSA, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 978-3-87975-751-0 .
  • Michel Aglietta: A Theory of Capitalist Regulation: The US Experience . Verso, London 2001, ISBN 1-85984-268-2 (English, French: Régulation et crises du capitalisme. L'expériences des Etats-Unis . Translated by David Fernbach).
  • Roland Atzmüller u. a. (Ed.): Fit for the crisis? Perspectives of regulation theory . Westphalian steam boat, Münster 2013, ISBN 978-3-89691-925-0 .
  • Joachim Becker: Accumulation, Regulation, Territory. For the critical reconstruction of French regulation theory . Metropolis, Marburg 2002, ISBN 3-89518-375-X .
  • Erik Borg: Globalization Project. Social forces in the conflict over hegemony . Offizin, Hannover 1985, ISBN 3-930345-26-9 .
  • Robert Boyer: La théorie de la régulation: une analyze critique . La Découverte, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-7071-1628-9 .
  • Robert Boyer, Yves Saillard (eds.): Régulation Theory. State of the Art / Théorie de la regulation: L'Etat des savoirs . Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0-415-23722-X (first edition: La Découverte, 1995).
  • Mario Candeias : neoliberalism, high technology, hegemony . 2nd Edition. Argument, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-88619-299-1 .
  • Alex Demirović , Hans-Peter Krebs, Thomas Sablowski (eds.): Hegemony and State. Capitalist regulation as a project and a process . Westphalian steam boat, Münster 1992, ISBN 3-924550-66-2 .
  • Patrick Eser: Perspectives on Regulation Theory. Social theoretical reformulation attempts . Thesis . Diplomica Verlag, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8366-6404-2 .
  • Josef Esser , Christoph Görg , Joachim Hirsch (eds.): Politics, institutions and the state. On the criticism of regulation theory . VSA, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-87975-643-0 .
  • Joachim Hirsch: Capitalism without Alternative? Materialistic social theory and possibilities of a socialist politics today . VSA, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-87975-519-1 .
  • Joachim Hirsch, Roland Roth : The new face of capitalism. From Fordism to Post-Fordism . VSA, Hamburg 1986, ISBN 3-87975-374-1 (revised reprint 1990).
  • Bob Jessop : Regulation Theory And The Crisis Of Capitalism . Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2001, ISBN 1-85898-279-0 .
  • Bob Jessop, Ngai-Ling Sum : Beyond the Regulation Approach. Putting Capitalist Economies in their Place . Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2006, ISBN 1-84542-037-3 .
  • Bob Jessop: Capitalism, Regulation, State: Selected Writings . Edited by Bernd Röttger and Victor Rego Diaz. Argument, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-88619-332-5 .
  • Lars Kohlmorgen: Regulation, Class, Gender - The Constitution of the Social Structure in Fordism and Post-Fordism . Westphalian steam boat, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-89691-563-0 .
  • Alain Lipietz : After the end of the golden age . Argument, Hamburg 1998, ISBN 3-88619-255-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Hirsch: Capitalism without an alternative? 1990, p. 18.
  2. ^ Prison books , 7, 1584, cited above. n. ruhr-uni-bochum.de ( Memento from March 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF).
  3. ^ Economic, social and organizational structural change.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Institute of Sociology for Spatial Planning and Architecture, University of Vienna@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / isra.tuwien.ac.at  
  4. ↑ Urban planning in postmodernism . (PDF; 47 kB)