Kevin R. Cox - Böcker

Developed out of the author's own substantial teaching experience, this introduction to political geography approaches its subject matter from the standpoint of political economy and the politics of difference.

Although all advanced industrial societies have urban and regional developmentpolicies, such policy in the United States historically has taken on a very distinct form. Compared with the more top-down, centrally orchestrated approaches of Western European countries, US cities and, to a lesser degree, states, take the lead, spurred on by developers and those with interest in rent. This bottom-up policy creates conflict as one city battles with another for new investments and as real estate developers fight over the spoils, resulting in highly contentious politics.In The Politics of Urban and Regional Development and the American Exception, Cox addresses the question of why US policy is so unique. In doing so, he illustrates the essential characteristics of American regional development through a series of case studies including housing politics in Silicon Valley; the history of the Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport; and a major redevelopment project that was rebuffed in Columbus, Ohio. Cox contrasts these examples with Western Europe’s tradition of centralized governmental involvement and stronger labor movements that historically have been more concerned with creating what he calls “the good geography” than profits for developers, whatever the shortfalls in policy outcomes might be. The differences illuminate the peculiar nature of political engagement and local competition in shaping the way US urban development has evolved.

In a context of disciplinary division between human and physical geography, the book seeks to reassert the unity of the field through an emphasis on a shared focus on the geographic configuration of things and how and why configuration is important.It first examines previous approaches to reestablishing unity, and why they have failed, before moving on to an explanation of fundamental differences in what is being studied and how. The role of configuration looms large in both. This is in the sense of contingency and the idea of emergence, suggesting that reconstruction of unity can proceed through an exchange of models of understanding. This book will appeal to those teaching courses or seminars in geographic thought or in the history of geographic thought.

In a context of disciplinary division between human and physical geography, the book seeks to reassert the unity of the field through an emphasis on a shared focus on the geographic configuration of things and how and why configuration is important.It first examines previous approaches to reestablishing unity, and why they have failed, before moving on to an explanation of fundamental differences in what is being studied and how. The role of configuration looms large in both. This is in the sense of contingency and the idea of emergence, suggesting that reconstruction of unity can proceed through an exchange of models of understanding. This book will appeal to those teaching courses or seminars in geographic thought or in the history of geographic thought.

This collection of papers, originally published in 1981, reviews and evaluates past and possible future advances in a field of central importance to human geography: behavioral geography. The book includes critical studies which show how the approach has contributed substantially to work within four areas of amjor application in behavioral geography: urban travel behavior, environmental cognition, residential mobility and spatial diffusion. The final section of the book focuses on the shortcomings of the behavioral approach and considers the alternative modes of analysis available.

This collection of papers, originally published in 1981, reviews and evaluates past and possible future advances in a field of central importance to human geography: behavioral geography. The book includes critical studies which show how the approach has contributed substantially to work within four areas of amjor application in behavioral geography: urban travel behavior, environmental cognition, residential mobility and spatial diffusion. The final section of the book focuses on the shortcomings of the behavioral approach and considers the alternative modes of analysis available.

This book cogently examines how human geography has developed from a field with limited self-awareness regarding method and theory to the vibrant study of society and space that it is today. Kevin R. Cox provides an interpretive, critical perspective on Anglo-American geographic thought in the 20th and 21st centuries. He probes the impact of the spatial-quantitative revolution and geography's engagement with other social sciences, particularly in social theory. Key concepts and theories in the field are explained and illustrated with instructive research examples. Cox explores both how new approaches to human geography get constructed and what each school of thought has contributed to understanding the world in which we live.

This book cogently examines how human geography has developed from a field with limited self-awareness regarding method and theory to the vibrant study of society and space that it is today. Kevin R. Cox provides an interpretive, critical perspective on Anglo-American geographic thought in the 20th and 21st centuries. He probes the impact of the spatial-quantitative revolution and geography's engagement with other social sciences, particularly in social theory. Key concepts and theories in the field are explained and illustrated with instructive research examples. Cox explores both how new approaches to human geography get constructed and what each school of thought has contributed to understanding the world in which we live.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.The Advanced Introduction to Marxism and Human Geography explores the fundamental aspects of Marx‘s conceptualization of capital and of capitalist development, including value theory, the class relation, accumulation and the development of the capitalist division of labor. Kevin Cox goes beyond simplistic analysis to further engage with key concepts, and how their relationships with one another can illuminate the human geography of the world.Key features include: Comparative insights into human geography and Marx‘s theoryA detailed discussion of capitalism and Marxism, covering topics such as capitalist geography, the capitalist city and urbanizationA focus on core concepts of the field as well as looking more broadly at Marxist approaches to topics such as geopolitics and difference and uneven development.This engaging work will be valuable reading for students and scholars of human geography and Marxist geography.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.The Advanced Introduction to Marxism and Human Geography explores the fundamental aspects of Marx‘s conceptualization of capital and of capitalist development, including value theory, the class relation, accumulation and the development of the capitalist division of labor. Kevin Cox goes beyond simplistic analysis to further engage with key concepts, and how their relationships with one another can illuminate the human geography of the world.Key features include: Comparative insights into human geography and Marx‘s theoryA detailed discussion of capitalism and Marxism, covering topics such as capitalist geography, the capitalist city and urbanizationA focus on core concepts of the field as well as looking more broadly at Marxist approaches to topics such as geopolitics and difference and uneven development.This engaging work will be valuable reading for students and scholars of human geography and Marxist geography.

Kevin Cox was a lower-middle class, in fact very ‘lower’, child growing up in an aspirant household and observing the social mores and practices of the immediate postwar period. His memories of that time include the intense sociability of that class, the importance of radio and cinema in everyday lives, the omnipresence of cigarette smoke, and the limits to getting around; and then, for the author, a dominantly working-class village before there was any thought of it being gentrified. It was the end of the Victorian era. Repression was draped across the young like a heavy, suffocating blanket. For adults it was a question of a wink and a nod, to be indulged by the inside pages of the Sunday News of the World, which in turn helped to relieve the boredom of that day as it then was. Discipline in schools was strict and capital punishment supported, even relished. It was also the dawn of the welfare state, whose provisions for education were of immense benefit to the author. This was an experience which will resonate with many others who lived that time and will be a benchmark for those who live in a less generous one. It was the age of the eleven-plus exam, the passing of which entitled you to an education that could be very good indeed; and then, if parental means failed, a free education, everything included, at university. Those who experienced it look back to it with fond eyes, as can be seen from this coming-of-age memoir.

In South Africa, it is thirty years since apartheid was overthrown. The country now teeters on being a ‘failed state.’ But South African history cannot be explained in isolation from developments in the rest of the world. Nor can it be understood in terms of change from a regime where race seemed all-determining, to one where race is supposed to be a matter of indifference. Rather, this book argues that the key to understanding South Africa lies in the logics of capitalist development. These explain why capitalist domination has taken racial forms, and why global conditions have been so important.