Theoretical Approaches to Economic Geography (8)
Colonialism Environmental determinism Regionalism Positivism Neo-classical economic theory Structuralism Post-structuralism Critical theory
1600-1900
theoretical approaches to economic geography
Colonialism
Environmental determinism
1900-1960
theoretical approaches to economic geography
Regionalism
Positivism
Neo-classical economic theory
1970’s-present
theoretical approaches to economic geography
Structuralism
Post-structuralism
Critical theory
Discourse
A way of speaking that identifies one as a member of a group.
Constrains and enables ways of thinking and seeing the world.
Reproduces power relations, but can change
Environmental Determinism
The physical environment determines social and cultural development
Possibilism
Behaviour is not simply determined by the environment, but by culture and agency
Regionalism
Epistemology that reflected early 20th century colonial interests. Focused on:
- differences between regions
- regional descriptions
- resource potential
Positivism
- no consideration of structures
- what can’t be measured is irrelevant
- seeking “universal laws” or principles for spatial patterns of economic activity
- mathematical models of economic activities (Von Thunen’s land use model, Christaller’s Central Place Theory)
Central Place Theory
Attempts to answer the relationship between cities and their hinterlands across a hypothetical isotropic plain.
- number, size, location of human settlements.
- settlements simply function as central places providing services to surrounding areas
Neoclassical theories
A theory that argues that allowing individual actors (people or businesses) freedom creates better economic outcomes.
- it assumes that human producers and consumers act purely on the basis of economic self interest, are rational, have perfect information
- it assumes that economic systems seek a stable equilibrium that balances supply and demand
- it takes markets as given (no exploration of how they are created, organized, regulated)
- it assumes that the individual is the fundamental unit of society and that individuals make choices of their own free will based on purely economic motivations
Structuralism
Sees the role of structures (eg. capitalism, patriarchy, speciesism, culture, racism) in producing spatial relations and in creating inequality
Social structures shape and constrain action and underpin unequal power relationships–not necessarily directly observable or measurable•
Widely adopted in 1970s
Many approaches–Marxism, institutionalism, feminism, critical theor
Post-Structuralism
- “knowledge is situated and partial”
- absolute truth not discoverable
- Power of discourse–the language, technology and institutions used to conceptualize phenomena and make them comprehensible
Actor Network Theory
- Not only humans have agency
- Our surroundings influence us
- humans, OTH beings and things are linked together in dynamic relationships which influence human behaviours
- challenges the idea that humans have free will
New Economic Geography
- Role of the state and other key institutions in economic processes (eg. corporations, labour organizations, NGOs)
- Analysis of global commodity chains or global production networks/circuits ; area studies falling out of fashion
- Economic processes embedded in social, cultural, and political contexts
- Expanded notions of agency, subjectivity; anthropocentrism vs. ecocentrism; political ecology & political economy
Economy Today
Post-structuralist
Capitalist
non-positivist
Critical theory
