Putting Architecture in its Social Place: A Cultural Political Economy of Architecture

Urban Studies ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 2519-2536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Jones
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Social Production ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Cultural Political Economy ◽  
Economic Foundation ◽  
Political Economic

As well as being shaped by bureaucratically codified state regulations, architecture is also fundamentally conditioned by the broader political-economic context in which it is commissioned, designed and understood. However, drawing attention to these noncodified regulations can be controversial, as it necessitates questioning the complex social production of architecture, in the process challenging those discourses that position architecture as a practice concerned primarily with the design of socially meaningful form and meaning. Such discourses have been problematised elsewhere and, building on these contributions, this paper suggests a framework for taking seriously architecture’s distinctive relationship with aesthetics and semiotics while also maintaining a sense of architects’ position as a cultural élite working in definite political-economic contexts. Drawing primarily on theories associated with Pierre Bourdieu and cultural political economy, the paper uses the case of iconic architecture to illustrate this argument. The central role of architecture in recent place-marketing strategies is understood as a resonance between the agendas of high-profile architects and those political and economic agencies ‘selling places’. The role of architecture in providing a culturalised frame within which economic transformation is embedded is a crucial consideration here. In short, this paper suggests the necessity of a non-reductionist, political-economic foundation to the regulation and built environment research agenda.

Security, economy, population: The political economic logic of liberal exceptionalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 375-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Best
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Critical Security Studies ◽  
Cultural Political Economy ◽  
Liberal Government ◽  
Political Economic

In an era in which scholars have become increasingly skeptical about the concept of exceptionalism, this article argues that instead of rejecting it, we should rework it: moving beyond seeing it primarily as a security practice by recognizing the crucial role of political economic exceptionalism. Drawing on Foucault’s later lectures on security, population, and biopolitics, this article suggests that we can understand exceptionalist moves in both security and economic contexts as efforts to manage and secure a population. Focusing on three key moments in the production of exceptional politics – defining the limit of normal politics, suspending the norm, and putting the exception into practice – I examine the parallels, intersections, and tensions between political economic and security exceptionalism, using the concept of economic exceptionalism to make sense of the 2008 global financial crisis. Taking seriously Foucault’s insights into the political economic character of liberal government holds out the promise of providing scholars in the fields of both critical security studies and cultural political economy with a richer understanding of the complex dynamics of exceptionalist politics – a promise that is particularly valuable at the present political juncture.

Development and inequality in the African lions

2020 ◽  
pp. 786-800
Author(s):  
David Potts
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Systemic Analysis ◽  
National Economic ◽  
African Lions

Ghana’s national economic transformation has been widely celebrated; but what about the role of the country’s cities in this transformation? Typically, the contribution of cities in Ghana to the country’s transformation is seen as negative, or non-existent to negligible. This characterization is quite common for cities in Africa for which The State of Africa Cities reports mostly brand as rural poverty-driven settlements. None of these claims, however, is based on a systemic analysis of what contribution cities in Ghana have made to the country’s economic transformation. This chapter, seeks to provide a more careful analysis of the existing statistical and historical evidence. using a heterodox spatial political economy methodology. The chapter argues that most urban residents are either born in cities or are attracted to them from the countryside; but urbanization cannot be explained as ‘poverty driven’, especially when rural poverty in the country has been falling and the urban economies of many cities are booming.

Parastatals and economic transformation in South Africa: The political economy of the Eskom crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 119 (476) ◽  
pp. 395-431
Author(s):  
Andrew Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
South African ◽  
Developmental State ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Business Elite ◽  
High Profile ◽  
State Capture ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Strategic Procurement

ABSTRACT This article analyses the causes, outcomes, and political significance of the inter-connected operational, financial, and governance crises afflicting Eskom, South Africa’s electricity parastatal. These crises emerged in the context of African National Congress initiatives to turn Eskom and other key parastatals into instruments of an envisaged South African developmental state, through increased investment and strategic procurement to support economic transformation goals. Instead, Eskom’s spiralling costs, procurement irregularities and inability to translate increased investment into functional new infrastructure meant it impeded these goals. Its indebtedness became a severe macro-economic risk, making Eskom a precarious nexus for the circulation of public funds, while the cost and unreliability of electricity has undermined South Africa’s energy-intensive industrial core. Intertwined with this were multiple high-profile corruption scandals associated with the ‘state-capture’ controversies of the latter stages of Jacob Zuma’s presidency. The article argues that Eskom’s extreme dysfunctionality results from long-running, and as yet unresolved, contestation of the parastatal and electricity policy more broadly by various interest groups, in a context of an increasingly fragmented political and business elite. This created a range of incoherent distributional pressures and institutional constraints. Rather than a straightforward outcome of corruption and ‘state capture’, this reflects deeper tensions in the post-apartheid political economy.

scholarly journals A material political economy: Automated Trading Desk and price prediction in high-frequency trading

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald MacKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Share Price ◽  
High Frequency Trading ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Price Changes ◽  
Price Prediction ◽  
Political Economic

This article contains the first detailed historical study of one of the new high-frequency trading (HFT) firms that have transformed many of the world’s financial markets. The study, of Automated Trading Desk (ATD), one of the earliest and most important such firms, focuses on how ATD’s algorithms predicted share price changes. The article argues that political-economic struggles are integral to the existence of some of the ‘pockets’ of predictable structure in the otherwise random movements of prices, to the availability of the data that allow algorithms to identify these pockets, and to the capacity of algorithms to use these predictions to trade profitably. The article also examines the role of HFT algorithms such as ATD’s in the epochal, fiercely contested shift in US share trading from ‘fixed-role’ markets towards ‘all-to-all’ markets.

Cultural Political Economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Biebuyck ◽  
Judith Meltzer
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Global Development ◽  
Corporate Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Political Economy ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Cultural Turn

Cultural political economy (CPE) is an approach to political economy that focuses on how economic systems, and their component parts, are products of specific human, technical, and natural relations. Notwithstanding longer historical roots, CPE emerged as part of the “cultural turn” within the social sciences. Although it is often seen as countering material determinism and the neglect of culture in conventional approaches in political economy, the cultural turn was less about “adding culture” than about challenging positivist epistemologies in social research. For some, cultural political economy continues to be defined by an orientation toward cultural or “lifeworld” variables such as identity, gender, discourse, and so on, in contrast to conventional political economy’s focus on the material or “systems” dimensions. However, this revalorization of the nonmaterial dimensions of political economic life reinforces a sharp distinction between the cultural and the material, an issue which can be traced to the concept of “(dis)embedding” the economy and subordinating society. A more noticeable development, however, is the increasing orientation of critical (CPE) analyses of global development toward the “economization” of the cultural in the context of mutating forms of neoliberalism. Concomitant to the economization of the cultural in narratives of global development is the “culturalization” of the economic. Here attention is paid not just to the growth of cultural industries but to the multiple ways in which culture has been normalized in discourses of global and corporate development.

scholarly journals Towards a cultural political economy of the illicit

2021 ◽  
pp. 030913252110133
Author(s):  
Carlo Inverardi-Ferri
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Geography ◽  
Economic Evaluations ◽  
Trading Zone ◽  
Cultural Political Economy ◽  
Political Economic

This article intervenes in debates on the illicit in economic geography, notably in the tensions between cultural and political economic approaches. First, it assesses critiques of political economic evaluations of the illicit. It then offers a ‘trading zone’, drawing upon both cultural and political economy, and argues that the two economic epistemologies are complementary, not mutually exclusive. The article instates political and ecological missing links in cultural political economy to foster multidimensional analyses of illicit practices in discursive, material and ecological registers. It concludes by discussing the broader implications of a cultural political economy of the illicit for economic geography.

Explaining the Dynamics of the Southeast Asian Political Economy: State, Society, and the Search for Economic Growth

1993 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Hawes ◽  
Hong Liu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Capitalist Class ◽  
Rapid Economic Growth ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Structuralist Framework

This essay reviews two sets of books that explore the origins and dynamics of Southeast Asia's growth and economic transformation. One set of books utilizes a structuralist framework and emphasizes the role of the state in creating a (now) powerful capitalist class. The other set of books utilizes an institutionalist framework to explain how new patterns of private/public sector collaboration have resulted in rapid economic growth. The authors point to weaknesses in both approaches and to areas where the two approaches can be fruitfully synthesized. They also offer suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Intervensi Negara Dalam Perekonomian: Melacak Epistemologi Politik-Ekonomi Islam

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 485
Author(s):  
Nafis Irkhami
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Conceptual Understanding ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Internal Logic ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Correct Understanding ◽  
Political Economic

Abstract: A correct understanding to the fundamental elements in the Islamic political economy is a must for its development. This study tried to seek a conceptual understanding of the basic elements of scientific aspects including worldview and epistemology. Its role to construct the methodology of Islamic political economy also became the main topic. There were some different vision,and epistemological and methodological framework of the Islamic political economy to those of western,. The consequences of those differences leaded to different scientific developments. At the level of praxis, it also produced differences in determining policy, while internal logic, coherence and consistency were essential pre-requisites for scientific approach. Islamic political economiy should be evaluated with its own worldview and epistemology. However, in another side, we could not neglect the role and position of current political and  economic sciences in the process of developing Islamic politial economy. The study of political-economic epistemology consisted of  the intervention and role of the state in the economy, especially in terms of public policy. الملخص: إن تنمية الاقتصاد السياسي الإسلامي يُشترط فيه الفهم الصحيح تجاه العناصر الأساسية فيه. حاول هذا المقال اكتشاف أنواع المفاهيم عن العناصر الأساسية العلمية فيه، وكذلك النظرة السائدة والابستمولوجيا وموقع كل منها في بناء منهجية الاقتصاد السياسي الإسلامي. هناك فروق في الرؤية والابستمولوجيا والاطار المنهجي بين الاقتصاد السياسي الإسلامي والغرب.  وإن هذه الفروق أدت إلى وجود الاختلافات في المبتى العلمي. وفي الجانب العملي، تسببّ هذه الفروق أيضا التعدّد والاختلافات  في أخذ القرارات، مع أن المنطق، والتماسك والاتساق هي شرط مهمّ للمدخل العلميّ. ولابد أن يُدرّس الاقتصاد السياسي الإسلامي بوجهة النظر والابستمولوجيا لنفسه. ولكن – في جانب آخر – لا يمكن أن نهمل مكانة علم السياسة وعلم الاقتصاد الآن في عملية تطوير علم سياسة الاقتصاد الإسلامي. وإن دراسة ابستمولوجيا سياسة الاقتصاد تشمل تدخّل الدولة ودورها في الاقتصادية، وخاصة في القرارات الاجتماعية.Abstrak: Pemahaman yang benar terhadap unsur-unsur mendasar dalam ekonomi politik Islam menjadi keniscayaan bagi pengembangannya. Tulisan ini berupaya untuk melacak pemahaman-pemahaman konseptual mengenai unsur-unsur dasar keilmuan, termasuk mengenai worldview dan epistemologi. Kedudukannya dalam mengkonstruk metodologi ekonomi-politik Islam juga menjadi topik utama. Terdapat perbedaa-perbedaan dalam visi, epistemologi dan kerangka metodologi ekonomi politik Islam dengan Barat. Konsekuensi-konsekuensi dari perbedaan tersebut mengakibatkan adanya perbedaan pada bangunan keilmuan. Pada level praksis, hal itu juga menimbulkan perbedaan dalam penentuan kebijakan. Sedangkan logika, koherensi dan konsistensi menjadi prasyarat penting bagi pendekatan ilmiah. Politik ekonomi Islam harus dikaji dengan worldview dan epistemologi yang dimiliki sendiri. Namun, di sisi lain, kita tidak dapat menafikan peran dan posisi ilmu politik dan ekonomi sekarang dalam proses pengembangan ilmu politik ekonomi Islam. Studi epistemologi politik-ekonomi mencangkup tentang intervensi dan peran negara dalam perekonomian, khususnya dalam hal kebijakan publik.

scholarly journals PROMOTING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRODUCT

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 309
Author(s):  
Marga Zhivitere ◽  
Viktoriia Riashchenko
Keyword(s):  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Marketing Mix ◽  
Customer Segmentation ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Full Power ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Political Economic

The object of the research are the social entrepreneurs and its business development. The aim of the research is to discuss existing marketing strategies applied to social entrepreneurship and to offer possible ways of their improvement. The research is relevant and consistent with the increasing role of social entrepreneurship taking the full power throe the fast changing political, economic, socio cultural and technological circumstances of the 21st century. While marketing the social entrepreneurship, the focus on marketing strategies must be revised. The research methodology includes both traditional and modern elements of marketing, such as marketing mix, strategies, customer segmentation and targeting, pricing altogether with the main elements of social entrepreneurship, such as social and economic aspects. The results present thet in standard marketing strategies, the strategy for social entrepreneurs should include segmentation of the customers and consumers by taking into consideration standard criteria (such as geographical, demographical, psychographic and behavior segmentation) but also implementing own criteria most adequate for the products they are currently interested to produce. It is important which factors are significant enough to take decisions of expansion, harvest or liquidation of products.

Locating the WISERD Project: Public policy governance towards common good

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-124
Author(s):  
Bob Jessop
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Common Good ◽  
State Power ◽  
Policy Governance ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Cultural Political Economy ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Temporal Dimensions

The author introduces semantic fixes and then considers institutional and spatio-temporal fixes. The analysis relates the author’s previous work on conjunctural analysis, cultural political economy, and social fixes directly to various forms of governance. Institutional and spatio-temporal fixes treat space and time as direct objects of governance, governing the spatio-temporal dimensions of other substantive objects of governance and compensating for the uneven spatio-temporal effects of governance. This facilitates the study of how the inherent contradictions and antagonisms of capitalism are governed through a historically variable set of semantic, institutional, and spatio-temporal fixes. It shows that state power can be analysed as ‘government + governance in the shadow of hierarchy’ and reveals the role of governance and multispatial metagovernance.

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