Concept Of Radicalism in Geography (UPSC Optional)

Concept Of Radicalism in Geography (UPSC Optional)

Geography’s unconventional perspective is just roughly twenty-five years old. Radicalism emerged as a significant critique of quantitative geography, positivism, and traditional regional geography.

Radical geography may be traced back to the 1960s radical geography movement in the United States. The movement was motivated by three major worldwide concerns: the Vietnam War, the Black civil rights movement, and the all-pervasive reality of poverty in urban ghettos, which created social conflict.

The radicals emphasised the necessity for a revolution in both geography theory and practise. In contrast to the ostensibly value-free techniques, the radical approach is value-based, particularly the notion of labour value. According to radicals, as manufacturing practises evolve, the symbiotic interaction between humans and the environment changes as well (a relationship from which the vital elements of the composition of society arise).

As the cornerstone of historical materialism, radicals believe in economic classes and subsequent class warfare. Most radicals have a strong Marxist foundation and adopt a holistic perspective of economics, society, and politics.

According to Peet (1977), radical geography arose as a resistance to the existing field.

The following are the primary objections levelled about radicalism:

(I) Radicalism confines humans to a passive life in a world of historical and structural determinism. Humans, rather of being a product of history, become its makers.
(ii) Because radicals are victims of Marxist dogma, they emphasise time above space.

(iii) In a rapidly changing world of information, radicalises lack adaptability. As a result, the radical interpretation of geography suffers from an excessively dogmatic explanation of space.’