Beyond and beneath the hierarchical market economy: Global production and working-class conflict in Argentina's automobile industry. (February 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fishwick, Adam
• Editors: Bruff, Ian; Ebenau, Matthias
• Is Part Of: Capital & class. Volume 38:Number 1(2014)
• Page Start: 115
• Page End: 127
• Publication Date: 2014-02
• Subjects: Hierarchical market economy -- varieties of capitalism -- industrial development -- Argentina -- working class; Economics -- Periodicals; Socialism -- Periodicals; 330.05
• DOI: 10.1177/0309816813513090
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0309-8168

Abstract

This paper argues that the hierarchical market economy (HME) category does not provide an adequate starting point for addressing capitalist diversity in Latin America. Building from a critical perspective on the global commodity chain (GCC) and global production network (GPN) approaches, it instead considers the impact of firms' transnational relations and the often neglected role of working-class struggles. It will argue that capitalist diversity can only be understood at the nexus of these ostensibly global and local phenomena; and by specifying the strategic decisions taken by firms in Argentina's automobile industry, it will account for the failure of that sector. Finally, it examines the role of working-class struggles in the industry in Córdoba, Argentina, arguing that these were vital in shaping the specific and unstable form of capitalist diversity in Argentina, as well as potential alternatives to it.