Out of chaos comes order: from Japanization to lean production : A critical commentary

This article is concerned with three key approaches to the implications of Japanese involvement in the UK. It is argued that the paradigms of the so‐called Japanization and lean production schools are inadequate to the task of resolving the sociological implications of Japanese investment and that by contrast what is needed is a critical social relations approach. This will be concerned with the processes of social exclusion implied by new forms of work organization together with the roles of employee collective organizations and identities in these processes.