Aldous Huxley’s Brave New

World and Fordism

Brave New World as a Dystopian Science Fiction Novel
Science Fiction: Deals with the impact of science and technology
on society and the individual
Dystopia: The opposite of utopia. If utopia is a vision of an ideal
society, dystopia is a vision of a nightmare society.
Characteristics of dystopian fiction:
•Includes elements of contemporary society
•Functions as a warning against some modern trend
How do these characteristics apply to Brave New World?
Aldous Huxley: Biographical and Literary Contexts

British writer who emigrated to the United

States
Born in 1894 to a family of literary and
scientific renown
Novelist, essayist, and poet who also wrote
travel narratives and film scripts
Brave New World is his most famous novel
Later in life, Huxley wrote on subjects like
spirituality and parapsychology
Historical Contexts:
Mass Production, Mass Consumption, and Henry Ford
Fordism:
Capital intensive, assembly line production
Minimal use of skilled labor
Profitability depends on high productivity
Threats to productivity minimized through corporate paternalism
Ford invented $5 dollar day to minimize turnover and worker
unrest
Also established a Sociology Department to teach English
and instill American habits in his workforce
Ford workers outside of the Dearborn, Michigan plant, 1915
•Fordism, continued:
•Profitability depends on
high rates of production and
consumption
•Economies of scale yield
affordable consumer
products
•Workers’ must have
sufficient income to afford
consumer products (thus the
$5 day)
One side effect of Fordism: Deskilling
•How does this relate to Frederick Winslow Taylor?
•How is this represented in Brave New World?

Related developments:
•Growth in the
advertising industry
•Birth of consumer
culture
Let’s consider some images from the Marchand Collection at the
UC-Davis History Project.
How do these images reflect cultural concerns in Huxley’s
novel?

Let’s also consider “Fordism” in the religious sense in which

Huxley uses it in Brave New World.
Is Huxley’s depiction of Fordism part of a broader critique of
modern consumer culture?
Other Advertisements that resonate with themes of Huxley’s
novel:
Related Developments in Consumer Culture: Radio and Film
Final topic for today’s discussion:
How does Huxley characterize Bernard Marx and Lenina
Crowne?