Industrial Techniques : Japan and the Use of Human Capacities
The author explores the possibility of developing, within the limits of the capitalist system, industrial techniques that are adapted to human capabilities. Technical systems developed within the capitalist system, for instance taylorism or fordism, have been based on the subordination of humans to machines. Marx saw this subordination as an integral part of the capitalist system. But some experts have tried to break this subordination, even within capitalism, by developing techniques that, through the use of computers, would retain and even enhance the skills of production workers. Others have seen this type of system already in place in Japan, in firms such as Toyota or Fujitsu. According to them, Japanese enterprises have reestablished the control of workers on the machines. Through a closer examination of the uses of industrial techniques in Japan, this article arrives at mixed conclusions: there are possibilities, but limited, of developing industrial techniques adapted to human capabilities within capitalism.