Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
examples, data, and quotes with cavalier abandon. The explorations of topics
o
ered here are meant to be illustrative, not exhaustive, i.e., brief anecdotes
designed to sketch the multiple forms time-space compression can and did
take. The intention is to be schematic, which allows for much ground to be
covered quickly. Hence this work does not aspire or attempt to o
ff
er the type
of detailed analyses so aptly written by many scholars. Its strengths lie in its
breadth rather than its depth, in the value of comparative analysis to draw
conclusions from contrasting observations from multiple contexts. To borrow
a line from Kern (1983:87), “My method involves the presentation of diverse
sources that are far enough apart to justify broad generalizations about the
age without being too far apart to exceed the limits of plausibility.” Whether
or not the evidence o
ff
ciently convincing to uphold the
general argument I leave to the reader to decide.
So diverse are the meanings that people attach to time and space that it is
ff
ered here is su
di
cult to claim that in any given culture only
one
time or
one
space exists.
Such essentialism has little currency today. To make time-space compression
intelligible, therefore, we need to generalize, to simplify the enormous diver-
sity within any social formation. Generalizations, are, of course, inherently
dangerous and inevitably run the risk of oversimpli
fi
cation, smothering
important di
erences and subtleties. Generalization is productive only if
what we gain in understanding exceeds what we lose in the details.
In this context, it is critical to emphasize that time-space compression is
not inherently bene
ff
ected, but results in uneven gains, and
sometimes losses: for some, it represents a rise in e
fi
cial to all those a
ff
ciency and increased
ability to master space; for others, it consists of a loss of control as their worlds
are enveloped within wider divisions of labor controlled by powerful strangers.
Because the structures of time and space are wrapped up with relations of
power, domination, and subordination, the shrinking world does not shrink in
the same way or equally for everyone; time-space compressions always simul-
taneously empower and disempower di
erent social groups. Often the process
accentuates existing social inequalities, as when, for example, the wealthy
deploy new technologies that leave the poor further behind. Indeed, time-
space compression for some may be time-space expansion for others.
ff
Plan of attack
Although the bulk of this work is empirically oriented, it is informed by
conceptual scholarship from several disciplines. Chapter 2 reviews several
theoretical lines of thought pertaining to time-space compression, including
its early technocratic formulations, historical materialism, structuration the-
ory, world systems theory, the works of Paul Virilio, and poststructuralist
notions such as commodity chains and actor-network theory. Rather than
retreat into any one conceptual approach, the work attempts to synthesize
these diverse lines of thought, bringing them into a creative tension in the
hope that each contributes to our understanding in some complementary
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