Theory and Explanation in Geography

THEORY AND EXPLANATION IN GEOGRAPHY "With this book Henry Yeung puts Geography back into the driver's seat of new theory development. Foregrounding mid-range theories and mechanism-based explanations, he offers a pragmatic approach that has the capacity to shape the wider social sciences for years to come. The timing of this intervention is pitch-perfect, as scholars search for ways to understand and intervene in an increasingly distrustful and polarized world." —KATHARYNE MITCHELL, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA "In Theory and Explanation in Geography Yeung presents us with a rare thing - an argument for geographical theory with forms of causal explanation at its heart. The book is both modest and ambitious. Modest in its insistence on mid-level theory without a call for some new “turn” or advocacy for any particular approach. Ambitious in its insistence that existing theoretical traditions are inadequate or incomplete insofar as they lack causal explanatory power. Geographers will be inspired and/or infuriated by Yeung’s arguments in this provocative and cogently argued call to theoretical arms for many years to come." —Tim Cresswell, Ogilvie Professor of Geography, University of Edinburgh, UK "Critical human geography possesses a distinctive theory culture—pluralist, creative, distributed, restless, contested—prone to “turning,” wary of orthodoxies and fixed positions. In this original and provocative contribution, the leading economic geographer Henry Yeung steps out beyond his home turf to engage styles and practices of theorizing across this diverse field, carving out a new remit and rubric for middle-range theorizing." —JAMIE PECK, Canadian Research Chair and Distinguished University Scholar, University of British Columbia, Canada Grounded in a generous reading of a multitude of critical approaches in human geography and their diverse conceptions of theory, Theory and Explanation in Geography draws upon cutting-edge debates on the mechanism-based approach to theory and explanation in analytical sociology, political science, and the philosophy of social sciences to inform current and future geographical thinking on theory. This consolidated conceptual work represents an extension and much further development of the author's well-cited works on relational geography, critical realism and causal explanation, process-based methodology, globalization and the theory of global production networks, and "theorizing back" and situated knowledges that were published in leading journals in Geography. The work has several chapters that identify new directions for Geography’s current and future engagement with the wider social sciences and relevant research agendas in geographical thought. Its main chapters provide the necessary conceptual toolkits for mobilizing such an expanding research program in the 2020s and beyond. Compared to typical texts on geographical thought, this book is less retrospective and historical and more prospective in nature. Detailing why and how mid-range explanatory theories can be better developed through causal mechanisms and relational thinking that have been revitalized in the social sciences, Theory and Explanation in Geography is an essential read for academics, geographers, and scholars seeking unique perspective on an important facet of the field.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables ix List of Figures x Preface and Acknowledgement xi 1. Critical Human Geography Today: A Multitude of Approaches and Concepts? 1 Main Argument and Approach 5 Important Caveats: What This Book Is Not About 9 Key Considerations: Of/For Theory and Explanation 15 Chapter Outlines 20 Notes 26 2. Contemporary Geographical Thought: Theory and Explanation 36 Theory in Marxism 42 Theories in Poststructuralism and Post-Phenomenology/Posthumanism 44 Actor-Network Theory 45 Non-Representational Theory 50 Assemblage Theory 54 Post-Phenomenology and Posthumanism 62 Theories in Feminism and Postcolonialism 67 Feminist Theory 69 Postcolonial Theory 76 Notes 81 3. What Kind of Theory for What Kind of Human Geography? 95 Analytical Geographies: Theory and Explanation in Geography 97 From Concepts to Theories 99 From Theory to Explanation in Geography 103 Mid-Range Theories: Critical Realism, Causal Mechanisms, and Relational Thinking 107 What Realism -- Critical and/or Speculative? 109 Causal Mechanisms and Relational Thinking in Mid-Range Theories 116 Notes 121 4. Relational Theory 129 Relationality and Relational Thought in Contemporary Human Geography 131 Relationality in Marxian and Institutional Geographies 134 Relational Thought in Poststructuralist, Feminist, and Postcolonial Geographies 139 Making Things Happen: Towards a Relational Theory 151 Rethinking Relational Thought: Relationality and Power 153 Causal Powers and Relationality in Relational Geometries 157 Notes 165 5. Mechanism and Process in Causal Explanation 173 Theorizing Mechanism in Causal Explanation 175 Reconceptualizing Mechanism, Process, and Context 178 Causal Theory and Actors 185 Processual Thought in Geography 188 From Process to Mechanism: Explanatory Theory/Theorizing in Geography 195 Why Neoliberalization? 196 Neoliberalization: What's in a Process and What Can Go Wrong? 199 Explaining Neoliberalism 'with Chinese Characteristics': How Might the Process-Mechanism Distinction Work? 203 Notes 207 6. Theorizing Globalization: Explanatory Theory, Situated Knowledges, and 'Theorizing Back' 212 Globalization as Geographical Processes 215 A Causal Theory of Global Production Networks: Explaining Globalization and Its Socio-Spatial Outcomes 221 Beyond Situated Knowledges: 'Theorizing Back' and Making Theory Work 228 Are Situated Knowledges Good Enough? 229 Theorizing Back: Strategic Coupling and Global Economic Geographies 235 Making Theory Work: The Trouble with Global Production Networks 240 Notes 245 7. What Kind of Geography for What Kind of Social Science? 252 Towards Analytical Geographies: Mid-Range Geographical Theories for Social Science 256 Beyond 'Academic Esotericism': Analytical Geographies for Public Engagement and Policy 261 Notes 266 References 269 Index 313