The Global City, S. Sassen
Extrait « Global Cities »
source:
Sassen S. (2001), The global City Second editions, Princeton University Press, Princeton, Oxford, p.433
(Gentrification)
Consumption pp.284-285
Economic inequality in major cities has assumed distinct forms on the consumption structure, which in turn has a feedback effect on the organization of work and the types of jobs being created. There is an indirect creation of low-wage jobs induced by the presence of a highly dynamic sector with a polarized income distribution. It takes place in the sphere of consumption (or social reproduction). The expansion of the high-income workforce, in conjunction with the emergence of new cultural forms in everyday living, has led to a process of high-income gentrification, which rests, on the last analysis, on the availability of a vast supply of low-wage workers. As I have argued at greater length elsewhere (Sassen 1988), high-income gentrification is labor intensive, in contrast to the typical middle-class suburb, which represents a capital-intensive process –tract housing, road and highway construction, dependence on private automobile or commuter train, heavy reliance on appliances and household equipment of all sorts, and, in United States, large shopping malls with self-service operations. High-income gentrification on city, on the other hand, is labor intensive: Renovation of townhouses and storefronts and designer furniture and woodwork all require workers, directly and indirectly. Behind the gourmet food stores and specialty boutiques lies an organization of the work process that differs from that of the self-service supermarket and department store. High –income urban residents in luxury apartment building depend to a much larger extent on hired maintenance staff than do the less urban homes of middle-level-income workers, epitomized by the middle-class suburban hone in the United States with its heavy input of family labor and machinery, from household appliances to lawn mowers.
The differences in the organization of the work process are evident in both the retail and the production phase (Sassen 1988). High-income gentrification generates a demand for goods and services that are typically not mass produced or sold through mass outlets. Coustomized production and limited runs of production will tend to be associated with labor-intensive methods of production and sold through small, full-service outlets. Subcontracting part of this production to law-cost operations, including sweatshops and household, is not uncommon. The over-all out-come is an increase in low-wage jobs and in small firms for production and retailing. The large department stores and supermarkets, on the other hand, need large quantities and standardized products; they will tend to buy from mass producers, often located in other region and involving large-scale transportation and distribution. Mass, production, standardization, and mass distribution facilitate unionization. Customized production, limited runs, and small retail outlets can promote the informalization and casualization work.
Postindustrail society pp.252-254
« We can identify at least three major bobies of theoretical work that address the question of the articulation of leading economic sectors with the rest of the economy and, more generally, the socioeconomic conditions in cities under the current regime of advanced services. One is general economic development theory; another, the model of the economic base pr export sector in urban economies and its multiplier effects; and the third, the sociological model of the postindustrial economy.
According to general economic development theory, as economic development progresses it will bring about a generalization of the market and market relations to an increasing number of institutional spheres in a society. In the case of the labor market, this entails a growing incorporation of workers, and people of working age generally, into formal work relations. This process is part of the broader expansion of the regulatory capability and intend of the state. The period of rapid growth after World War II was, indeed, characterized by the attainment of high levels of economic development in major industrialized countries and the growing incorporation of workers into the formal labor market. A series of regulatory aspects ensured that a majority of workers had full-time, year-round jobs, often with unemployment and retirement benefits. Unions were central in this expansion of formal work relation. Fordism is the most institutionalized version of this model of the labor market. This process was according to this thesis, expect that the leading cities in the most advanced countries would certainly be characterized by a strong expansion in the share of workers incorporated in highly developed and encompassing formal labor markets. The growth of causal work would be interpreted as a development lag or as exogenous to the advanced sectors of the economy; for example, informal labor markets could be viewed as imported through Third World immigration.
The model of basic versus nonbasic industries addresses the issue of city-building economic activities (Mayer 1969; Alexander 1954). City-building industries are those that generate more than is consumed internally and hence produce for “export” as well. It is this export activity (including domestic and international) that becomes a vehicle for multiplier effects in that it contributes to the expansion of the other sectors in the economy that service the basic industries. Exports provide an exogenous source of additional income for the city and induce a demand for additional support services beyond those required by the resident population. Expansion in the nonbasic sectors of the economy is basically reproductive; it cannot generate new growth. Much debate has centered on whether manufacturing, always held to be a basic sector, in indeed so in the current era. Classic arguments on services as the basic sector were developed by Blumenfeld (1955) and Tiebout (1957); a notion of service as the basic sector seems particularly appropriate for the case of major cities that are leading centers in the production and export of producer services. This thesis would suggest that the high level of exports and the extremely high value of these exports in the three cities under consideration (New York, London, Tokoyo), should have a rather high multiplier effect and the benefits should be evident over a wide range of industries in these cities.
In its original and richest formulation, the postindustrial model posits a major transformation, one where the expansion of the highly educated workforce and the centrality of knowledge industries will lead to an overall increase in the quality of life and a greater concern with social rather than narrowly economic objectives. It is impossible to recapitulate the full thesis, and unnecessary given the widespread familiarity with Bell’s (1973) text. For the purposes of this discussion what matters is Bell’s notion of a hierarchy in the growth of services, the first type of services developed being those linked to industry, notably transportation and distribution, and the later ones being those linked to a higher quality of life. For Bell, this latter stage in the development of services will be characterized by a more collective or communal nature, given the type of needs they respond to and the public character of provision for many of these services. Furthermore, the preeminence of theoretical and technical knowledge with a scientific base makes postindustrial society on resting on knowledge. The central problem of society is no longer that of capital or the organisation of industrial work but that of the organization of scientific knowledge. This means that the class of professionals and technicians not only expends greatly but becomes the vital center of postindutrial society. This is a heterogeneous and stratified class, ranging from teachers and health workers to engineers and scientists. But at its core are the latter, engineers and scientists. It is an enlightened elite, whose politics cans play a significant role in changing in the social order. The transformation of work is also evident in the organization of firm and power. The preeminence of services is expected to entail a growth of smaller-sized firms, where professional knowledge is more important, contributing to making firms and the organization of work more humane and social. This represents the transition from an economic to a more sociological mode of thought in the management of firms and pf society.
Several element in this model have certainly taken place. If we consider the producer services and finance as knowledge industries, then it os evident that there has been rapid growth of such industries and that they have become the dominant sectors in advanced economies. Furthermore, as the preceding chapter indicated, there has been an expansion of highly paid professional-level jobs and a growth in the high-income stratum of workers. Finally, high-income gentrification as we see it in these three cities does in many ways represent a higher quality of life for those that benefit from it. Important question that rise are first, whether the increase in low-wage jobs and the increase in informal and causal work are or are not articulated with these advanced, higher forms of growth. Second, does the rapid increase in the number of small firms on the advanced services alter the nature of concentration in these economies? The evidence presented on preceding chapters suggests that high levels of economic concentration continue, though often in different forms from that represented by the large manufacturing-oriented multinational corporations and the large transnational banks that dominated economic activity in the 196s and well into the 1970s. Alongside these type of corporations, there is now a vast number of comparatively small firms, which together exercise immense control over investment and economic activity, especially in these cities. And finally, how is the vast proliferation of small firm with marginal returns and mostly low-wage jobs we see in these cities articulated with the advanced sectors of the economy? »
Alexender J. (1954), « The Basic-Nonbasic Concept of Urban Economic Functions », Economic Geography, Vol.30(3)
Bell D. (1973), The Coming of Post-industrial Society : A venurein Social Forecasting, Baic Books, New York
Blumenfeld H. (1955), « The Economic Base of the Metropolis », Journal of the American Institute of Planners, Vol.21
Mayers H. (1969), « Making a Living in Cities : The Urban Economic Base », Journal of Geography, Vol.18 (2), pp.70-87
Tiebout C. (1957), « Location Theory, Empirical Evidence, and Economic Evolution », Papers and Proceeding of the Regional Science Associations, Vol.3, pp.74-86
The Global City Model pp.346-347
“a) Globalisation and homogenization
A first group of critiques of the concept centered on question linked to globalization and the associated homogenization it is supposed to bring about. One version of this critique is the assertion that in global model globalization is conceived of as a force coming from outside and homogenizing cities. This type of critique is fundamentally flawed (défectueux) in that the global city model is precisely an analytic strategy to correct the common assumption in approaches to globalization tat the global is that which crosses borders, as in international trade and investment.
The global city represents a strategic space where global processes materialize in national territories and global dynamics run through national institutional arrangements. In this sense the model overrides the zero-sum notion about the global economy and the nation economy as mutually exclusive. A key purpose if the model is to conceive of economic globalization not just as capital flows, but as the work of coordinating, managing and servicing these flows and the work of serving the multiple activities of firms and markets operating in more than one country. This means also that globalization is not simply something that is exogenenous. It comes partly from inside of national corporate structures and elites, a dynamic I conceive of as a processes are indeed experienced as an invasion, as coming from the outside, but the global city is precisely the site where global processes can get activated inside a country with the participation of come of its national actors. The global city represents the endogenizing of key dynamics and conditionalities of the global economy."
Eurozine put on line 5 lectures of Saskia Sassen http://www.eurozine.com/search.html
source:
Sassen S. (2001), The global City Second editions, Princeton University Press, Princeton, Oxford, p.433
(Gentrification)
Consumption pp.284-285
Economic inequality in major cities has assumed distinct forms on the consumption structure, which in turn has a feedback effect on the organization of work and the types of jobs being created. There is an indirect creation of low-wage jobs induced by the presence of a highly dynamic sector with a polarized income distribution. It takes place in the sphere of consumption (or social reproduction). The expansion of the high-income workforce, in conjunction with the emergence of new cultural forms in everyday living, has led to a process of high-income gentrification, which rests, on the last analysis, on the availability of a vast supply of low-wage workers. As I have argued at greater length elsewhere (Sassen 1988), high-income gentrification is labor intensive, in contrast to the typical middle-class suburb, which represents a capital-intensive process –tract housing, road and highway construction, dependence on private automobile or commuter train, heavy reliance on appliances and household equipment of all sorts, and, in United States, large shopping malls with self-service operations. High-income gentrification on city, on the other hand, is labor intensive: Renovation of townhouses and storefronts and designer furniture and woodwork all require workers, directly and indirectly. Behind the gourmet food stores and specialty boutiques lies an organization of the work process that differs from that of the self-service supermarket and department store. High –income urban residents in luxury apartment building depend to a much larger extent on hired maintenance staff than do the less urban homes of middle-level-income workers, epitomized by the middle-class suburban hone in the United States with its heavy input of family labor and machinery, from household appliances to lawn mowers.
The differences in the organization of the work process are evident in both the retail and the production phase (Sassen 1988). High-income gentrification generates a demand for goods and services that are typically not mass produced or sold through mass outlets. Coustomized production and limited runs of production will tend to be associated with labor-intensive methods of production and sold through small, full-service outlets. Subcontracting part of this production to law-cost operations, including sweatshops and household, is not uncommon. The over-all out-come is an increase in low-wage jobs and in small firms for production and retailing. The large department stores and supermarkets, on the other hand, need large quantities and standardized products; they will tend to buy from mass producers, often located in other region and involving large-scale transportation and distribution. Mass, production, standardization, and mass distribution facilitate unionization. Customized production, limited runs, and small retail outlets can promote the informalization and casualization work.
Postindustrail society pp.252-254
« We can identify at least three major bobies of theoretical work that address the question of the articulation of leading economic sectors with the rest of the economy and, more generally, the socioeconomic conditions in cities under the current regime of advanced services. One is general economic development theory; another, the model of the economic base pr export sector in urban economies and its multiplier effects; and the third, the sociological model of the postindustrial economy.
According to general economic development theory, as economic development progresses it will bring about a generalization of the market and market relations to an increasing number of institutional spheres in a society. In the case of the labor market, this entails a growing incorporation of workers, and people of working age generally, into formal work relations. This process is part of the broader expansion of the regulatory capability and intend of the state. The period of rapid growth after World War II was, indeed, characterized by the attainment of high levels of economic development in major industrialized countries and the growing incorporation of workers into the formal labor market. A series of regulatory aspects ensured that a majority of workers had full-time, year-round jobs, often with unemployment and retirement benefits. Unions were central in this expansion of formal work relation. Fordism is the most institutionalized version of this model of the labor market. This process was according to this thesis, expect that the leading cities in the most advanced countries would certainly be characterized by a strong expansion in the share of workers incorporated in highly developed and encompassing formal labor markets. The growth of causal work would be interpreted as a development lag or as exogenous to the advanced sectors of the economy; for example, informal labor markets could be viewed as imported through Third World immigration.
The model of basic versus nonbasic industries addresses the issue of city-building economic activities (Mayer 1969; Alexander 1954). City-building industries are those that generate more than is consumed internally and hence produce for “export” as well. It is this export activity (including domestic and international) that becomes a vehicle for multiplier effects in that it contributes to the expansion of the other sectors in the economy that service the basic industries. Exports provide an exogenous source of additional income for the city and induce a demand for additional support services beyond those required by the resident population. Expansion in the nonbasic sectors of the economy is basically reproductive; it cannot generate new growth. Much debate has centered on whether manufacturing, always held to be a basic sector, in indeed so in the current era. Classic arguments on services as the basic sector were developed by Blumenfeld (1955) and Tiebout (1957); a notion of service as the basic sector seems particularly appropriate for the case of major cities that are leading centers in the production and export of producer services. This thesis would suggest that the high level of exports and the extremely high value of these exports in the three cities under consideration (New York, London, Tokoyo), should have a rather high multiplier effect and the benefits should be evident over a wide range of industries in these cities.
In its original and richest formulation, the postindustrial model posits a major transformation, one where the expansion of the highly educated workforce and the centrality of knowledge industries will lead to an overall increase in the quality of life and a greater concern with social rather than narrowly economic objectives. It is impossible to recapitulate the full thesis, and unnecessary given the widespread familiarity with Bell’s (1973) text. For the purposes of this discussion what matters is Bell’s notion of a hierarchy in the growth of services, the first type of services developed being those linked to industry, notably transportation and distribution, and the later ones being those linked to a higher quality of life. For Bell, this latter stage in the development of services will be characterized by a more collective or communal nature, given the type of needs they respond to and the public character of provision for many of these services. Furthermore, the preeminence of theoretical and technical knowledge with a scientific base makes postindustrial society on resting on knowledge. The central problem of society is no longer that of capital or the organisation of industrial work but that of the organization of scientific knowledge. This means that the class of professionals and technicians not only expends greatly but becomes the vital center of postindutrial society. This is a heterogeneous and stratified class, ranging from teachers and health workers to engineers and scientists. But at its core are the latter, engineers and scientists. It is an enlightened elite, whose politics cans play a significant role in changing in the social order. The transformation of work is also evident in the organization of firm and power. The preeminence of services is expected to entail a growth of smaller-sized firms, where professional knowledge is more important, contributing to making firms and the organization of work more humane and social. This represents the transition from an economic to a more sociological mode of thought in the management of firms and pf society.
Several element in this model have certainly taken place. If we consider the producer services and finance as knowledge industries, then it os evident that there has been rapid growth of such industries and that they have become the dominant sectors in advanced economies. Furthermore, as the preceding chapter indicated, there has been an expansion of highly paid professional-level jobs and a growth in the high-income stratum of workers. Finally, high-income gentrification as we see it in these three cities does in many ways represent a higher quality of life for those that benefit from it. Important question that rise are first, whether the increase in low-wage jobs and the increase in informal and causal work are or are not articulated with these advanced, higher forms of growth. Second, does the rapid increase in the number of small firms on the advanced services alter the nature of concentration in these economies? The evidence presented on preceding chapters suggests that high levels of economic concentration continue, though often in different forms from that represented by the large manufacturing-oriented multinational corporations and the large transnational banks that dominated economic activity in the 196s and well into the 1970s. Alongside these type of corporations, there is now a vast number of comparatively small firms, which together exercise immense control over investment and economic activity, especially in these cities. And finally, how is the vast proliferation of small firm with marginal returns and mostly low-wage jobs we see in these cities articulated with the advanced sectors of the economy? »
Alexender J. (1954), « The Basic-Nonbasic Concept of Urban Economic Functions », Economic Geography, Vol.30(3)
Bell D. (1973), The Coming of Post-industrial Society : A venurein Social Forecasting, Baic Books, New York
Blumenfeld H. (1955), « The Economic Base of the Metropolis », Journal of the American Institute of Planners, Vol.21
Mayers H. (1969), « Making a Living in Cities : The Urban Economic Base », Journal of Geography, Vol.18 (2), pp.70-87
Tiebout C. (1957), « Location Theory, Empirical Evidence, and Economic Evolution », Papers and Proceeding of the Regional Science Associations, Vol.3, pp.74-86
The Global City Model pp.346-347
“a) Globalisation and homogenization
A first group of critiques of the concept centered on question linked to globalization and the associated homogenization it is supposed to bring about. One version of this critique is the assertion that in global model globalization is conceived of as a force coming from outside and homogenizing cities. This type of critique is fundamentally flawed (défectueux) in that the global city model is precisely an analytic strategy to correct the common assumption in approaches to globalization tat the global is that which crosses borders, as in international trade and investment.
The global city represents a strategic space where global processes materialize in national territories and global dynamics run through national institutional arrangements. In this sense the model overrides the zero-sum notion about the global economy and the nation economy as mutually exclusive. A key purpose if the model is to conceive of economic globalization not just as capital flows, but as the work of coordinating, managing and servicing these flows and the work of serving the multiple activities of firms and markets operating in more than one country. This means also that globalization is not simply something that is exogenenous. It comes partly from inside of national corporate structures and elites, a dynamic I conceive of as a processes are indeed experienced as an invasion, as coming from the outside, but the global city is precisely the site where global processes can get activated inside a country with the participation of come of its national actors. The global city represents the endogenizing of key dynamics and conditionalities of the global economy."
Eurozine put on line 5 lectures of Saskia Sassen http://www.eurozine.com/search.html
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