Realpolitik, Reality and Rhetoric in RioHecht, S B; Cockburn, A
doi: 10.1068/d100367pmid: N/A
As Rio prepared for the 1992 Earth Summit by paving the road to the airport and placing in detention the young street kids regularly assassinated by death squads, the inhabitants of Rio, one of Brazil's most depressed cities in a disintegrating economy, positioned themselves for the windfall of 30000 participants in need of services ranging from taxis to transvestites. The Rio conference was one where the average citizen was excluded in no uncertain terms from the formal conference by a phalanx composed of Brazilian troops and UN peace-keeping forces. The ‘cordon militaire’ and spatial isolation of the Rio Centro conference site reflected the larger social and economic contours of the current environmental arena.
Contrasting Patterns of Business Organization in Silicon ValleySaxenian, A
doi: 10.1068/d100377pmid: N/A
The industrialists of Silicon Valley have pioneered two divergent political strategies in recent decades: one is an attempt to improve the competitive position of local firms by lobbying for supportive trade and technology policies, the other is an attempt to enhance the flexibility of the specialist producers in the region by providing collective services that promote the innovative recombination of resources. These contrasting patterns of organization reflect the hybrid structure of the local economy, and political conflicts in the region highlight divergent understandings of the proper forms of governance for a flexible regional economy. This case underscores the openness of regional and industrial trajectories, and suggests the importance of analyzing the political, as well as the purely economic, determinants of industrial strategies and regional outcomes.
Post-Fordism as Politics: The Political Consequences of Narratives on the LeftGraham, J
doi: 10.1068/d100393pmid: N/A
In many theories of post-Fordism an epochal transition in capitalist societies is envisioned in which the industrial paradigm of mass production is replaced by flexible specialization. Often conjoined with this new model of industrial development are a post-Marxist politics and a postmodern culture, creating the impression of a grand economic and social realignment. It is argued that these holistic representations of industrialized social formations obscure the role of both capitalist and noncapitalist class processes in constituting contemporary societies and narrow the scope for political contestation and change.
Science Parks: A Concept in Science, Society, and ‘Space’ (A Realist Tale)Massey, D; Wield, D
doi: 10.1068/d100411pmid: N/A
In this paper we report on one aspect of ‘methodology’ as developed in a recent research project. The project was an investigation of the implications of science parks as they are currently being developed in the United Kingdom. And the issue which is reported here is that of conceptualisation—how to conceptualise the central object of study: the science park. A comparison is made between the ‘popular’ definition and one which was arrived at during the research project. This latter mode of conceptualisation follows a broadly critical-realist approach, and we draw out the causal powers which are associated with the definition. This enables a different form of policy-evaluation from the usual empirical assessment of ‘outcomes’. The discussion of this particular case also allows a number of other reflections on the debate around the realist approach to research.
Modernity, Urbanism, and Modern ConsumptionGlennie, P D; Thrift, N J
doi: 10.1068/d100423pmid: N/A
In human geography, as in other social sciences, much recent work has focused on contemporary consumption practices. The aim of this paper is to bring historical perspectives on consumption to bear on theorisations of contemporary consumption, It is contended that many such theorisations are deficient because they inaccurately characterise the history of modern consumption. As a result, they are prone to stress novelty where there is continuity (and vice versa). It is suggested that the importance of several oft-stressed facets of contemporary consumption has been exaggerated, but the authors also seek to identify aspects of contemporary consumption that are genuinely important and novel.
Home and Homelessness in the United States: Changing Ideals and RealitiesVeness, A R
doi: 10.1068/d100445pmid: N/A
If meaningful change is to take place with regard to homelessness, future research must take on the difficult task of critically examining and evaluating the cultural ideal of home. For it is against that taken-for-granted, progress-driven idealization that our definition and management of homelessness begin. In this paper the historical contexts within which home and homelessness have been defined in the United States are traced, and the degree to which they are conceptually and functionally connected is shown, It is argued that we must examine the basic premises embedded in the home ideal, because this ideal is used as the standard against which homelessness is observed and treated. At root, the home ideal is found to be exclusive, arbitrary, ambiguous, and open to manipulation. Hence, contemporary homelessness must be understood within the culturally guided and historically contingent contexts that home and homelessness have been defined in the United States.
Space, Time, and Policing: Towards a Contextual Understanding of Police WorkFyfe, N R
doi: 10.1068/d100469pmid: N/A
Studies of policing have been dominated by two types of approach: those that are focused on the minutiae of routine police work and those that are concerned with the sociolegal contexts of policing. In this paper an attempt is made to connect these two approaches by the development of a contextual understanding of police work. The author's own and other ethnographic police research in the United Kingdom are woven together to examine the time-space sequences and settings of local, routine police action. In the first part of the paper, Hägerstrand's time geography is used to explore the time-space sequences of policing, highlighting the impacts of capability, coupling, and steering ‘constraints’. These constraints indicate the importance of the organisation of police work, the role of the community, and the impact of the law on the practice of policing. An important limitation of time geography, however, is its failure to scrutinise the settings of social interaction. In the second part of the paper this weakness is addressed by employing the concepts of locale and place in order to examine the time-space settings of policing, with examples to show the subtle but important differences between these concepts.