Aims and outcomes of the Quantitative Revolution in geography

Aims and outcomes of the duodecimal mutation in geographyThe Quantitative Revolution in geography refers to the time in the mid-fifties and 60s when the upshot adjusted to a more scientific approach seeking objectivity in the testing of hypotheses and theories. A serial publication of statistical and mathematical techniques and abstract models were adopted leading to a thoroughgoing transformation of spirit and purpose (Burton, 1963, p151) in Anglo-American geography. As a eccentric of this revolution the old ideographic geography based around areal differentiation and regional geography was displaced. Regional geography was heavily criticised for macrocosm too specific and incapable of contributing towards effective generalisation. Both Bunge (1962) and Haggett (1965) argued that one can do little with the unique except contemplate its uniqueness. Thus, the aims of the three-figure revolution were to overcome this specificity and establish nomothetic (universal/general) model-based paradigms. However, as this essay leave alone show, the three-figure revolution was itself as narrowly focussed and blinkered as the regional geography it replaced.Nevertheless, it did provide greater theoretical awareness within the subject meaning that today this awareness no longer hinges on a simple ideographic-nomothetic binary. Instead, interest in the philosophy of realism and a more focussed contextual approach to geography, together with a critique of cat valium surmise and an interest in situated knowledges, has produced a more nuanced taking into custody of both the formers and limits of theory.The quantitative revolution was formulated around the paradigm of spatial science associated with the philosophy of positivism (the advancement of science through the bollock construction of theories and scientific laws). Spatial science involved the presentation of benignant geography as a key component of kind science, which concentrates on the role of space as the fundamental variable influencing both societys arrangement and operation and the behaviour of its individual members (Cox, 1976). Berry and Marble (1968) expressed the tendency of spatial science as building accurate generalisations with predictive power by precise quantitative description of spatial distributions, spatial coordinate and organisation, and spatial relationships.The revolution also strongly influenced corporal geography involving the general adoption of abstract modelling techniques and scientific methodology in rig to reaffirm geographys status as a respected scientific discipline. This had a huge impact upon the subject as a whole, leading to David Harvey (1986) coining the noted slogan by our models you sh on the whole know us.However, as m any(prenominal) geographers such as Chrisholm (1975) have argued, the phrase quantitative revolution is something of a misnomer. This is due to the point that geography has in reality been quantitative since the n ineteenth century and its perfunctory institutionalisation. For example, The Royal Geographic Society as a centre of tally (Latour, 1987) involving the assimilation of maps, tables, figures and statistics. As Chrisholm argues, the widespread use of formal statistical techniques from the 1950s to the present day therefore represents more of an evolution than a revolution. Similarly, the substance of the 1950s was not the introduction of numbers per se, but the introduction of theory it was therefrom much more of a theoretical revolution. It is this theoretical scenery which has been the most enduring legacy.Before the 1950s geography (human especially) was resolutely atheoretical. With the quantitative revolution, however, a flood of theoretical models from other disciplines were imported and applied. From physics came gravity, from economics spatial science and the holy trinity of Von Thunen, Weber and Loschs models, from sociology the Chicago inculcate and from geometry netw orks and graph theory. These theories, among many another(prenominal) others, were thus applied through an innovative come of practises stemming from a distinct set of technical and theoretical competencies. Both physical and human geography thus shifted away from field-based inquiry to technical, desk-bound roles involving psychoanalysis from afar.However, just as the strive for positivism, empiricism, exclusivity, autonomy and universality were the keys aims of the quantitative revolution, they all crowning(prenominal)ly culminated in its downfall and critique. By the late 1960s and proterozoic 1970s these once-compelling arguments began to slip and with them the grip of the revolution. A different kind of innovation was emerging at this time that was much less innocent and more restless than before. Huge debates were raging concerning issues of poverty, racial equality, war, gender, environment and civil rights that the quantitative revolution come alonged both unable and unwilling to address. Quantitative geographers were thus left somewhat flat-footed in terms of their relevance to this debate. As David Harvey (1973 p129) damningly format it there is an ecological problem, an urban problem, an international trade problem, and yet we seem incapable of saying anything of depth or profundity about any of them. The Quantitative Revolution was thus ripe for an overthrow (Harvey, 1973 p129). The theoretical vocabulary, however, persisted, with a shift towards Marxist concepts and a more radical geography.Human geographers thus argued the discipline should be formulated around situated knowledges based on local cultures, customs and specifics. Based upon poststructuralist and post- novel ideologies they argued instead of concentrating on the universal and global, it was definitive to attend to the play of different interests from different positions and in different voices. They argued for the reinstatement of the social foundations and responsibilitie s of intellectual inquiry and refusal to separate science from discourse more generally. Consequently, although no doubt many geographers continue to think of themselves as social scientists, many do not, emphasising their role at the heart of the humanities. In either case, however, belike very few count themselves as positivists. This has ultimately culminated in railroad siding of the gap between the physical and human aspects of the discipline.This is largely due to the detail that so much of physical geography remained largely unaffected by, and soggy to, the arguments forwarded by the humanists and the critique of the Quantitative Revolution at large. Thus, in the modern era, there is no doubting the fact the connections between the disciplines of human geography and physical geography are much more tenuous. From this perspective, the outcome of the Quantitative Revolution can therefore be seen as profound, highlighting the ultimate question in geography. What does the dis cipline really entail and can the progressively disparate human and physical elements continue to operate under the aforesaid(prenominal) umbrella?