Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This paper develops three themes. My primary theme is to re-emphasize the qualitative and institutional nature of SSA theory. SSA theory is above all an investigation of the qualitative distinctions that demarcate different periods or stages of capitalism, with a particular focus on the transformative processes that lead from one SSA to another. The second theme addresses the relation between quantitative long swings in economic growth and SSA analysis. The institutional changes that were taking place when Gordon, Edwards, and I developed SSA theory constituted a structural crisis and led us to predict a quantitative long swing downturn. more recent times. We need to renew our qualitative historical and institutional analysis, and I discuss four dimensions along which capitalist institutions have been restructured.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bowles, Samuel , David M. Gordon , and Thomas E. Weisskopf . 1989. Business Ascendancy and Economic Impasse: A Structural Retrospective on Conservative Economics. Journal of Economic Perspectives 31, 1: 107-134.

Brown, Clair , Yoshifumi Nakata , Michael Reich , and Lloyd Ulman . 1997. Work and Pay in the United States and Japan. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ghilarducci, Teresa , James P. Hawley , and Andrew T. Williams . 1997. Labour's Paradoxical Interests and the Evolution of Corporate Governance. Journal of Law and Society, forthcoming.

Gordon, David M. 1975. Recession is Capitalism as Usual. New York Times Magazine. 27 April.

Gordon, David M. 1978a. Up and Down the Long Roller Coaster. In U.S. Capitalism in Crisis. Union for Radical Political Economics (ed.) pp. 212-235. New York: Union for Radical Political Economics.

Gordon, David M. 1978b. Stages of Accumulation and Long Economic Cycles. In Processes of the World System. Terence Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein (eds.). pp. 9-45. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Gordon, David M. , Richard Edwards , and Michael Reich . 1982. Segmented Work, Divided Workers: The Historical Transformation of Labor in the United States. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hawley, James P. and Andrew T. Williams . 1996. Corporate Governance in the United States: The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism. Monograph prepared for the OECD. Saint Mary's College of California.

Kerr, Clark et al. 1957. Industrialism and Industrial Man. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

10.

Kotz, David M. , Terrence McDonough , and Michael Reich (eds.). 1994. Social Structures of Accumulation: The Political Economy of Growth and Crisis. New York: Cambridge University Press.

11.

Lazonick, William and Mary O'Sullivan . 1996. Corporate Governance and Corporate Employment: Is Prosperity Sustainable in the United States? Unpublished paper, University of Lowell.

12.

O'Connor, James . 1973. The Fiscal Crisis of the State. New York: St. Martin's Press.

13.

Useem, Michael . 1996. Investor Capitalismw How Money Managers are Changing the Face of Corporate America. New York: Basic Books.

14.

Wright, Erik O. 1978. Classes, Crisis and the State. London: New Left Books.

Social Structure of Accumulation Theory: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References