The French Regulation School and the Social Structures of Accumulation Approach

This chapter deals with the theoretical apparatus of both the French Regulation School and the Social Structure of Accumulation Approach, considering their common elements and looking into their theoretical differences. The concepts of accumulation regimes and stages of capitalism development are analysed, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses and pointing out the fundamental role played in them by wage relations, forms of enterprise, monetary standards and the social and economic functions of the state, which, in turn, help determine the monetary regime, forms of competition and wage relations. Subsequently, the supposed rise of the finance-led growth regime is illustrated, which, according to some post-Keynesian economists, represents the new post-Fordist accumulation regime. In the last part of the chapter, however, some doubts are voiced about the idea that, considering these analytical approaches, neoliberal capitalism can actually be seen as a new accumulation regime.