Critical geography
Encyclopedia
Critical geography takes a critical theory
Critical theory
Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...

 (Frankfurt School
Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main...

) approach to the study and analysis of geography. The development of critical geography can be seen as one of the four major turning points in the history of geography (the other three being environmental determinism
Environmental determinism
Environmental determinism, also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture...

, regional geography
Regional geography
Regional geography is the study of world regions. Attention is paid to unique characteristics of a particular region such as natural elements, human elements, and regionalization which covers the techniques of delineating space into regions....

 and quantitative revolution
Quantitative revolution
In the history of geography, the quantitative revolution [n] was one of the four major turning-points of modern geography -- the other three being environmental determinism, regional geography and critical geography)...

). Though post-positivist approaches remain important in geography the critical geography arose as a critique of positivism
Positivism
Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....

 introduced by quantitative revolution.

Two main schools of thought emerged from human geography and one existing school (behavioural geography
Behavioral geography
Behavioral geography is an approach to human geography that examines human behavior using a disaggregate approach. Behavioral geographers focus on the cognitive processes underlying spatial reasoning, decision making, and behavior...

) which made a brief comeback. Behavioural geography sought to counter the perceived tendency of quantitative geography to deal with humanity as a statistical phenomenon. It flourished briefly during the 1970s and sought to provide a greater understanding of how people perceived places and made locational decisions and sought to challenge mathematical models of society, in particular the use of econometric
Econometrics
Econometrics has been defined as "the application of mathematics and statistical methods to economic data" and described as the branch of economics "that aims to give empirical content to economic relations." More precisely, it is "the quantitative analysis of actual economic phenomena based on...

 techniques. But the lack of a sound theoretical base left behavioural geography open to critique as merely descriptive and amounting to little more than a listing of spatial preferences.

Radical geography emerged during the 1970s and 1980s as the inadequacies of behavioralist methods became clear. It sought to counter the postivist
Positive science
In the humanities and social sciences, the term positive is used in at least two ways.The most common usage refers to analysis or theories which only attempt to describe how things 'are', as opposed to how they 'should' be. Positive means also 'value free'. In this sense, the opposite of positive...

 quantitative methods with normative
Norm (philosophy)
Norms are concepts of practical import, oriented to effecting an action, rather than conceptual abstractions that describe, explain, and express. Normative sentences imply “ought-to” types of statements and assertions, in distinction to sentences that provide “is” types of statements and assertions...

 techniques drawn from Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

 theory: quantitative methods, it argued, were not useful unless alternatives or solutions were given to problems.

The final and, arguably, most successful of the three schools was humanistic geography, initially formed part of behavioural geography but fundamentally disagreed with the use of quantitative methods in assessing human behaviour and thoughts in favour of qualitative
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...

 analysis. Humanistic geography used many of the techniques that the humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....

 use such as source analysis and the use of text and literature to try to ‘get into the mind’ of the subject(s). Furthermore, Cultural geography
Cultural geography
Cultural geography is a sub-field within human geography. Cultural geography is the study of cultural products and norms and their variations across and relations to spaces and places...

 revived due to humanistic geography new areas of study such as Feminist geography
Feminist geography
Feminist geography is an approach in human geography which applies the theories, methods and critiques of feminism to the study of the human environment, society and geographical space.-Areas of study:...

, postmodernist and poststructuralist geography began to emerge.

Additional reading

  • Critical Geographies: A Collection of Readings, Praxis (e)Press, Harald Bauder and Salvatore Engel-di Mauro (eds.) (http://www.praxis-epress.org/availablebooks/introcriticalgeog.html)

  • Social Justice and the City, Ira Katznelson (Foreword), David Harvey, Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 0-631-16476-6

  • "Antipode
    Antipode (journal)
    Antipode is an academic journal that publishes in the field of critical geography. The journal publishes articles with Marxist, socialist, anarchist, anti-racist, and feminist approaches to geography with a left-wing focus...

    ", A Radical Journal of Geography, Blackwell Publishing
    Blackwell Publishing
    Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley's Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing, after Wiley took over Blackwell Publishing in...

    http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0066-4812&site=1

  • ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies (http://www.acme-journal.org)

  • Justice spatiale/Spatial Justice, a Scientific Journal centered on Spatial justice
    Spatial justice
    Spatial justice links together social justice and space. The organization of space is a crucial dimension of human societies and reflects social facts and influences social relations . Consequently, both justice and injustice become visible in space...

    , created in 2009 (http://jssj.org/)

See also

  • Geography
    Geography
    Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...

  • History of geography
    History of geography
    The history of geography includes various histories of geography which have differed over time and between different cultural and political groups. In more recent developments, geography has become a distinct academic discipline. 'Geography' derives from the from Greek - geographia,, a literal...

  • Quantitative Revolution
    Quantitative revolution
    In the history of geography, the quantitative revolution [n] was one of the four major turning-points of modern geography -- the other three being environmental determinism, regional geography and critical geography)...

  • Environmental Determinism
    Environmental determinism
    Environmental determinism, also known as climatic determinism or geographical determinism, is the view that the physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines culture...

  • Regional Geography
    Regional geography
    Regional geography is the study of world regions. Attention is paid to unique characteristics of a particular region such as natural elements, human elements, and regionalization which covers the techniques of delineating space into regions....

  • Feminist Geography
    Feminist geography
    Feminist geography is an approach in human geography which applies the theories, methods and critiques of feminism to the study of the human environment, society and geographical space.-Areas of study:...

  • Behavioral Geography
    Behavioral geography
    Behavioral geography is an approach to human geography that examines human behavior using a disaggregate approach. Behavioral geographers focus on the cognitive processes underlying spatial reasoning, decision making, and behavior...

  • Critical geopolitics
    Critical geopolitics
    The basic concept behind Geopolitics is that intellectuals of statecraft construct ideas about places, these ideas have influence and reinforce their political behaviors and policy choices, and these ideas affect how we, the people, process our own notions of places and politics.Critical...

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