Deindustrialization

Deindustrialization refers to the large-scale loss of manufacturing jobs, a process of capital abandonment that generally leaves devastated communities in its wake. The process reflects the mobility of capital, its constant and restless search to minimize costs and maximize profits, and its mounting ability to pit places against one another and force workers to make concessions in wage rates and benefits. The traditional view is that deindustrialization in some places and industrialization in others are mirror images of each other. Industrial growth and decline are offsetting tendencies, representing a zero-sum, or even a positive, global game. The shift of production processes from the industrial heartland to the periphery releases a skilled labor force for more sophisticated forms of production in developed countries and allows labor ...