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| CONCEPTUALIZATION OF GLOBALIZATION IN WESTERN CONTEMPARORY HUMAN GEOGRAPHY AND RESEARCH PROGRESS |
| XU Hai-Ying1,2 |
1. Urban and Environment School, Huaiyin Normal University, Huai'an 223300, China;
2. Department of Geography, Konkuk University, Seoul 141-701, Korea |
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Abstract It is significant and urgent for geographers to know the diversified ideas on globalization and grasp the central concepts and theories in contemporary human geography. First, this research gives a comprehensive review on the major approaches of human geography, focusing on their different research themes, propositions, and analysis frameworks on globalization, including quantitative geography, poststructuralist geography, feminist geography, Marxist geography, institutional geography and relational geography. Second, this study also reviews the evolution of globalization theories. Each school of thought has different views on the nature and consequences of globalization. Then, ‘space’, as a crucial notion, is focused on. This term has been changing from ‘absolute space’, ‘relative space’, to ‘metaphoric space’ in the context of globalization. Some terms and their dialectical relationships, such as ‘space of flows’, ‘space of places’ and ‘space of network’, show the geographers' considerations on the relationship between globalization and localization. In addition, ‘scale’, as another key notion, is concerned about. It is important to understand the relationships between various scales (global, national, regional and local) in order to understand the global-local interaction. The institutional arrangements of various scales are argued experiencing from separated hierarchy, co-existing hierarchy, to multi-fibred networks, which implies that human geographers tend to appreciate the interrelatedness of the geographical scales. Thirdly,this paper also reviews the historical evolution patterns of globalization, focusing on the dynamic mechanism of globalization process. The Marxist and the poststructuralist approaches are generally used to explain driven forces of the globalization process. However, in terms of structure of geographical scales, there are different opinions on the meaning of state-national power. Finally, this current research work strongly advocates that Chinese human geographers should pay close attention to disciplinary evolution of the western human geography in order to improve our studies on globalization. And it is significant to reflect onhow to enhance human geography so as to deal with complex realities and make efficient dialogue with other disciplines.
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Received: 12 November 2009
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2010, Vol. 25 
