THE VISUAL CULTURE OF RATIONALIZATION IN THE MODERN 20th CENTURY ENTERPRISE

Résumé

The issue of Entreprises et Histoire on hand brings together a series of articles dealing
with the function and the significance of visual medias, pictorial representations, iconic
traditions and optical codes in the modern enterprise. With this, a whole set of interesting
questions is addressed, which so far received appropriate attention neither in business nor in
economic history. Whereas the analysis of the appearance of branded articles and the whole
field of publicity have attracted already considerable attention, historical research in the
application of visual methods and optical systems in the running of accounting systems, in
distribution-logistics, the scientific management and optimisation of mechanized production
processes is widely underdeveloped. The enumerated keywords designate not isolated
phenomena. They are on the contrary integrated in a broad spectrum of different regimes of
visibility, ranging from the seductive representation of consumerist desires in publicity films
up to the scarcely visible bar code present on products of all kind. The history of these
different visualization strategies reveals important insights in the rationalization of modern
large scale enterprises and helps to unravel the hidden logic of productivity increases in
developed economies. This in turn is an important analytical prerequisite for a deeper
understanding of the unparalleled rise in purchasing power during the post-war period and the
concomitant emergence of modern consumer societies