chapter 1: geography and development in an era of globalization

Chapter 1:Geography and Development in an Era of Globalization

World Regional Geography (Clawson et al.) - Ch. 1 What Is Geography and Should We Care? 2

What is Geography?

• Spatial distribution of any given phenomenon


Geography Defined

• Where people are located• Where activities are located• Provide a regional framework for development and

underdevelopment• Geography is fundamentally the study of location

• Physical features• Economic activities• Human settlement patterns• Anything else a person finds on a map

• Three Questions at the Most Basic Level• What is located where?• Why are things located where they are?• What is the significance of location?

TOPONYMS

• SAN JOSE• MILAN• RIO• CAIRO• GOOFY RIDGE• BUZZVILLE• WIMPYVILLE

World Regional Geography, Tenth Edition Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. 4

MAPS & MAPPING

• Cartography

• Visual representation of reality

• Scale



T & O world map


Ortelius’ World Map


Relationship with Other Disciplines

• Holistic discipline

• Synthesizes knowledge from many


GIS Explosion

• Digital representation of earth’s surface

• Can describe landscape features• Roads

• Boundaries

• Mountains

• Rivers

• Like a whole atlas in a single computer presentation

• Ability to relate different pages to each other


Widening Use of GIS

• Government• Track power lines• Mapping for disasters• Demographic profiles

• Businesses• Locate markets• Facilitate markets

• Law Enforcement• ID “hot spots”• Criminal geographic profiles

• Politics• Demographic targeting• Remember Red v. Blue states?

http://www.gis.com/


Geography and Everyday Society

• Multifaceted analytical approach lends to different kinds of work• Education

• Business-related professions

• Government

• Helps to understand change in economy and society• Three Patterns of Change

• Economic Growth and Decline

• Land Use/Land Cover Change

• Environmental Change

World Regional Geography (Clawson et al.) - Ch. 2 Geography and Development in an Era of Globalization 12

Types of Geographic Studies

• O & D studies (Origin and Diffusion)

• Migration patterns

• Transportation studies

• Population trends

• Cultural Impact

World Regional Geography (Clawson et al.) - Ch. 3 Nature, Society, and Development 13

Special Aspects of Culture

• Language

• Religion

• Political Ideology


What is this?


Name this sandwich


Defining Development

• More than just an economic component

• One of many terms applied to processes of change, or lack of change, to describe economic and political circumstances of different countries.


A Tyranny of Definitions

• Underdevelopment–Suggests an absence of characteristics associated with modern economies and societies

• Less developed countries• Avoids negative connotations• More benign/clinical term

• Assumptions• Predominantly drawn from Western, North American/European ideas–May not

work everywhere.• Processes of change are not necessarily synonymous with economic growth.• Sustainable in the dual sense that changes in human welfare should not harm

future generations• Particular sensitivity to environmental concerns

• Four components1. People2. Natural environment3. Culture rules4. History remains.


Human Transitions & Development Processes

• Revolutions• Change that occurs rapidly

and massively.

• Leads to a fundamental transformation of society to its core

• Ramifications• Economic

• Political

• Social


Agricultural Revolution

• How land is tilled and food is produced

• Surpluses• Producing more than consumption

• Not everyone needs to be involved in food gathering.

• Partially led to rise of towns and cities.

• 17th century Europe• Technological

• Process

• 20th century• Mechanization

• Ended the family farm as dominant

• Gave rise to the corporate-owned farm.


Industrial Revolution

• Mid-18th century• Fundamentally, a shift in the way

goods were made• Factories

• Machinery replaced muscle power.• Inanimate energy replaced animate

energy.

• Mass production• Volume production• Didn’t happen everywhere.

• Europe and North America• Japan, elsewhere later

• Led to other revolutions• Transportation

• Labor displacement


Information Revolution

• How information is produced, stored, accessed, and applied

• Two broad drivers1. Microprocessors

2. Telecommunications

• Both good and bad impacts• More information

• “Super-empowered angry people” (Friedman)

• Impact on development

• Will the cost advantages of digital technology to corporations help or hurt employees in developing countries?

• Cost–benefit of location decisions–Wrapped up in globalization


Where Does Population Change Fit in?

• Dynamic behavior of human populations produce some of the most pronounced and enduring transformations.

• Global population patterns

• Predominantly now an urban world

• Urban growth is growing exponentially in the global South.


Distribution and Density of Population

• Indicators• Population distribution–Spatial distribution of people• Population density–The number of people per unit area• Physiologic density–The number of people per square mile of arable

(farmable) land• Show strong similarities with the past

• Dense population• Indian subcontinent• Eastern China and adjacent areas• Europe–Predominantly urban• Indonesia, Maya Peninsula, Japan, the Philippines, and parts of the

Middle East–Pockets of density• Parts of urban areas of Latin America–Locally dense areas


Demographic Transformation Theory

• Based on Europe’s transformation

• May not be generalized.


Population Growth: Stages 1 and 2

• State 1–Agrarian society with high birth and death rates becomes stable and population slowly grows.

• Stage 2–While cultural customs and birth rates remain high, death rates decline.


Population Growth: Stages 3 and 4• Stage 3–Continued urbanization, industrialization, and other economic trends

started from Stage 2• Birth rates decline.• Better access to birth control and family planning• Procreation not always seen as a positive in cities.

• Rapid population growth• Better sanitation• Better medical treatment• Greater productivity• Industrialization• Labor specialization• Urbanity

• Stage 4–Rapid population growth rates• Birth rates low• Death rates low• Urbanized population• Educated populace• Population density typically quite high


Malthusian Theory

• Two promises1. Humans tends to reproduce prolifically/geometrically.2. The capacity to produce food and fiber expands more slowly, that is,

arithmetically. Therefore, population will eventually exceed food supply unless population growth is checked.

• Three stages1. Stage 1–Human needs are not as great as production capacity.2. Stage 2–Production capacity and increased human needs are roughly

equal.3. Stage 3–Population has grown to the point where its needs can no longer

be met.• Assumptions

• Malthus assumed that people would reject birth control on moral grounds.

• He could not foresee the impact of the industrial revolution.


Malthusian Theory (Continued)


Population Development in Economically Developed & Developing Regions: 1750–2100


What Is Globalization?

• A growing integration and interdependence of world communities through a vast network of trade and communication

• Associated with a wide range of technological, cultural, and economic outcomes affecting our daily lives

• Not a new phenomenon

• Response to two major forces1. Technology change

2. Global capitalism• Free markets

• Rule of law


Major Players

• Transnational corporations (TNCs)

• Countries

• Laborers

• Consumers

• Regulatory organizations and civil movements


Typical Criticism

• Leads to “homogenization”

• Denies place and history

• Widens a divide between “haves” and “have-nots”

• Doesn’t always lead to development

• Leads to widening policy problems


Does Not Necessarily Mean Homogenization

• Local cultures tend to “domesticate”, “indigenize”, or “tame” imported consumer culture–giving it a local flavor.

• Many countries promote a consumer nationalism that encourages local goods over “foreign” goods.

• Still, some “homogenizing” occurs–perhaps in a transnational, postmodern, or postnationalist culture.


Place and History Still Matter

• Technology has changed the meaning of distance between places.

• Functional proximity may be more important to people than physical proximity.

• Not “the end of history” (Fukuyama), but “the return of history and the end of dreams” (Kagan).


Vignettes of Globalization


Winners

• World cities• Centers of finance

• Corporate decision-making

• Creativity

• Consumers–Pay less for goods

• Workers in the postindustrial classes– “transnational capitalist class” • Globe-trotting executives

• Citizens of the world as well as their own countries

• Countries that transform their low-wage economies into targets for industries that are higher wage


Losers

• People who lose jobs due to economic transformation

• Poor• Cannot afford to take advantage

• Reside in terrible infrastructure

• Migrants• Economically marginalized

• Not uniformly accepted elsewhere

• Isn’t this culturally relative?


Nature, Society, and Development

• Two principal factors affect the level of living in an area1. Physical environment

2. Political, environmental, economic, and social systems in place

• First concern of people is with provision of food.

• Land modification–Altering land to support societal and cultural needs


How Places Are Classified Environmentally

• Ecosystems• Intricately interconnected elements

• Produce corresponding variations in other components

• Understanding forces in the natural world is extremely important.

• Foundation upon which human livelihood and survival depends

• Humankind’s pressure on the natural world intensifies whenever economic development works to accentuate/accelerate processes.


Climate

• Affects ability to produce food and industrial crops required by humans

• Two important elements1. Temperature2. Precipitation

• Average annual precipitation• Tropics• Middle latitudes

• Evatranspiration rate• Evaporation and plant transpiration as

a result of high temperatures.• Plant growth is limited.

• Frost-free period• Length of time is important.

• Other controls of climate• Latitude• Marine exposure• Prevailing winds• Atmospheric pressure systems• Elevation


Vegetation

• Closely associated with climate• Cold climate• Little woody vegetation• Growing season short/subsoil permanently frozen

• Natural vegetation• What would be expected in an area if vegetation succession were allowed

to proceed over a long period without human interference?• Greatly altered by humankind• Attitudes toward natural vegetation has begun to change dramatically.

• Increasingly mindful that vegetation is significant in many aspects of life• Related to other components of life, such as soil and air• Forest vegetation especially becoming more mindful with greater amounts of

lumber and paper consumed


World Mean Annual Precipitation


Climatic Regions of the World


Characteristics of World Climate Types


Soils

• Nutrients derived both from minerals in the earth and from humus–organic materials added to the soil by vegetation

• Processes• Laterization

• Podzolization

• Alluvium

• Sand Ridge State Forest

http://www.illinoisadventuretv.org/index.asp?page=st&site=1000


Laterization

• Laterization• Process by which infertile soils are formed in the humid tropics

• Plentiful rainfall leaches the soil; dissolves important minerals from the soil.

• Decomposed organic material is only available if trees and other plant remains drop their leaves and branches on the forest floor.


Podzolization

• Occurs in high latitudes characterized by cold, humid climates where seasonal temperatures are distinctive

• Normal leaching restricted


World Vegetation Regions


Soil Degradation

• Three kinds1. Soil erosion–Closely associated with loss of protective

vegetative cover as a result of deforestation

2. Salinization–Excessive build up of salts and minerals

3. Chemical contamination• Agricultural insecticides and herbicides

• Chemical fertilizers

• Sprays to control plant diseases


Water Impacts

• Alluvium–Soil transported and deposited by water.

• Loess–Soil transported and deposited by wind.


Human Impacts

• Humans have modified soils in many ways.• Sometimes improving inherently poor soils

• Sometimes harming fertile ones

• Wise management practices can ameliorate bad effects.• Can be labor and capital intensive

• Needs a long-term focus


Impacts of Culture• Use of land is impacted by behavioral patterns• Kinds

• Inherited culture–A society’s earlier experiences• Diffused culture–Experiences of other societies to which a society has contact

• Culture can be seen as a hierarchy of traits, complexes, and realms.• Culture complex–A group of traits that are employed together in a more general

activity• Cultural realm–A region in which most of the production adheres to similar

cultural complexes• Cultural hearth–A source area in which a culture complex has become so well

established and advanced that its attributes are passed on to future generations inside and outside the hearth area


Early Cultural Hearths of the World


Special Aspects of Culture

• Language

• Religion

• Political ideology


Vignettes of Culture


Impact of Cultural Change

• Acculturation–Process by which a group takes on some of the cultural attributes of another society

• Convergence–Process by which trends and processes are adopted on a wider scale• Positive

• Regional disparities/locational differences will remain anyhow.

• Negatives• Local culture/identity threatened

• Leads to domination by another set of cultural identities


Geographic Dimensions of Development

• Measures of wealth• Per capita income–Income earned per person

• Income doesn’t always tell the story.

• Need to look at other indicators too

• Gross National Income in Purchasing Power Parity (GNI PPP) –National income on the basis of international dollars

• Primary level of economic activity• Extractive activities–Agriculture, mining, forestry, and fishing

• Not income producing

• Use small amounts of power per capita

• Secondary level–Manufacturing

• Tertiary and quaternary levels–All the rest


Hoeschele’s Five Type Classifications

• Industrialized countries• Focus on the export of core manufacturing products

• Focus on export of natural resources

• Partially industrialized countries• Emphasize the export of core manufacturing products

• Emphasize the export of natural resources

• Export natural resources


Measures of Development

• Industrial production• Manufacturing• Less developed countries (LDCs) portion mostly drawn by Foreign

Direct Investment

• Post-industrial production• Energy consumption• Other measures

• Life expectancy• Food supply• Number of calories • Protein supply

• Combined measures–Human Development Index (HDI) –Derived from three variables1. Life expectancy at birth2. Educational attainment3. Income


Per Capita GMI for Selected MDCs


World Per Capita GNI PPP


Agriculture Indicators: Per Capita Labor Force & Maize (Corn) Yields in Selected Countries


Per Capita Food Production for Selected Regions


Industrial Production for Developed and Developing Countries


World Life Expectancy at Birth


Adult Literacy Rates


More Developed Countries (MDCs)

• US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan

• Stage 4 of demographic transformation

• Population characteristics• Highly urbanized

• Stable/declining growth

• Older society

• Economic characteristics• Capitalism

• Widespread use of technology

• Heavy dependence on minerals

• Cultural characteristics• High level of educational attainment

• Economically strong middle class

• Transparency and accountability required in society


Less Developed Countries

• Population characteristics• High rate of population growth

• High birth (fertility) rates

• Declining death (mortality) rates

• High level of youth

• Cultural characteristics• Lower literacy rates

• More conservative and resistant to change

• Reliance on norms and customs

• Women more marginalized in society


Development Explanations/Theories

• No real consensus on a dominant theory• Environmental determinism (1920s/1930s)

• The physical environment, especially climate, controls or predestines human behavior.

• Other factors seen as also impacting

• Cultural determinism• A person’s action/range is determined by the culture in which he/she is

resident.• Will differ between cultures

• Mercantilism (1600–1700s)• Trade between colonies and mother countries• Benefits mother countries–exploitative• Colonies provide raw materials.• Mother country makes products and sells back to colonies.


Development Explanations/Theories (Continued)

• Neocolonialism• Frequently cited as a reason for continuing uneven distributions

of wealth• Formerly colonial countries still needing to depend on former

colonial rulers/more developed countries

• Dependency theory• Present situation in countries is directly attributable to ongoing

perpetuation on inequitable trade relationships of colonial past.• Variation is core-periphery model.• Core is Western Europe.

• Periphery is Africa, Asia, and Latin America.• Trade relationships work to the disadvantage of less industrialized

regions of the periphery.



• Circular causation• Downward or upward

• Have less/produce less.

• Have more/produce more.

• Theory is applicable to groups or nations.



• Stages theory• Rostow–Five historical stages

1. Traditional society• Agrarian• Limited savings

2. “Preconditions for takeoff”3. Takeoff

• New technology and capital introduced.• Production greatly increased.

4. “Drive to maturity”• Urbanization progresses.• Trends toward service economy

5. High mass consumption• Personal incomes high• Abundant goods and services• No need to focus on securing bare necessities of life.



• Lacostian theory

• Several cautions on various theories• Avoid the view that population growth per se causes

underdevelopment.

• External forces as sole impetus for development are questionable.


The Question of Sustainability• Sustainable development–How do we “grow” economically without

negative consequences on resources? (sustainability)

• Globalization threatens environmental destabilization.• Ties distant places together

• Diffusing new technologies faster to distant lands

• Encouraging changes that may not fit harmoniously into local cultures

• May produce unintended effects.

• Place provides an answer.• Genius loci principle

• Locally accumulated knowledge

• Norms, customers, and beliefs

• Knowledge of the ecosystem


Planning for Sustainability

• Precautionary principle• Sacrifice zones• Creative destruction

• In some ways, a metaphor for globalization.• Razing in order to raise.• Joseph Schumpeter

• Planning for sustainability• Precautionary principle

• Whenever significant change is about to occur, implementation must proceed slowly.

• Proper examination and evaluation of likely impacts

• Holistic planning• Plan in a comprehensive fashion• Use different analysis• Notably, have someone as a champion for the ecosystem

chapter 1: geography and development in an era of globalization

Documents

underdevelopment geography

ortelius world map slide

regional framework

sandwich slide

t o world map slide

environmental change

era of globalization

given phenomenon slide