>Actually Graham, I think globalisation is a cause of a lot of things:
>underdevelopment and environmental degradation being but two, albeit,
>pretty big ones.
>
>Cheers, Paul.
>--
By 'material and discursive effect' I didn't mean to imply that
globalisation doesn't exist. Rather, I meant that to talk about
globalisation as if it is an a priori cause is analytically misleading.
For instance, environmental degedation isn't caused by globalisation; it's
caused by, amongst many other things, 1) the appropriate people in
coroporations deciding not to adopt environmentally friendly practcies, 2)
policies and buying decisions taken by all those individuals who are
members of corporations who constitute that mysterious entity 'the market'
(which didn't exist in popular speech until the 19th century) which force
or coerce individuals in the 'third world' to adopt environmentally
unfriendly farming. The same sort of linkages constitute what we label
'underdevelopment' (and underdeveloped in relation to _what_? I might add).
'Things' like globalisation are constituted out of a whole series of
translations of ideas and practices by conscious individuals and (I would
argue) non-conscious non-human actors across space(s)and time(s). In this
sense, Capitalism is an effect, the discipline of human geography is an
effect, I - and you - are effects; nodes of practice enmenshed in multiple
sets of social relations that are (re)produced by the actions of ourselves
and others. I'm overegging the pudding, because I don't believe in
classical cause-effect relations anyway, but I hope I make my point.
Cheers :-)
Graham
At 01:27 PM 2/20/01 +0000, you wrote:
>>At the risk of sounding pedantic, and being accused of methodological
>>individualism, globalisation isn't a cause of anything; it's a material and
>>discursive effect
>
>
>----------------------------------
>"The Macintosh isn't a computer...
>it's a way of life." Don Rittner.
>o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o
>Paul Broome
>Centre for Developing Areas Research
>Department of Geography
>Royal Holloway and Bedford New College
>University of London
>Egham, Surrey, TW20 OEX, UK
>
>Tel: +44 (0)178 444 3574
>Fax: +44 (0)178 447 2386
>Voice Mail:+44 (0)207 681 2867
>http://www.geo-know.net/pab
>o~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o
>
>
Graham Gardner
Institute of Geography & Earth Sciences
University of Wales
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 3DB
Wales
UK
Tel: 0044 (0)1970 622606
Fax: 0044 (0)1970 622659
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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