Topic:Space of Production and Consumption.
Order Discription.
: SPACES OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
PART A: The questions below are designed to test your understanding of the material contained in
Chapter 4 of “An Introduction to Economic Geography: Globalization, Uneven Development, and Place,
by Danny Mackinnon and Andrew Cumbers.
1. Describe the International Division of Labor that emerged during the 19th Century (2 pts)
2. Describe the doctrine of Comparative Advantage and how it related to the International
Division of Labor (3 pts)
3. Globalization is described as being about the search for new markets, raw materials, and
labor supplies. But it also involved destroying previously existing competition. Explain how this
worked in relation to the Indian textile industry (page 70) (4 pts)
4. How did the English railroad system symbolize technical progress? (pages 70/71) (2 pts)
5. What communication technologies emerged in the late 19th Century? (page 71) (2 pts)
6. When was the first telegraph cable laid across the Atlantic Ocean, and what impact did it
have? (page 72) (2 pts)
7. What is regional sectoral specialization? (2 pts)
8. What is the new spatial division of labor and how does that differ from regional sectoral
specialization? (3 pts) What are its implications? (2 pts)
9. What is the new international division of labor? (2 pts)
10. What industries are characteristic of the 5th Kondratiev cycle, and what kind of production
methods do they use? (3 pts)
11. What caused the decline in manufacturing industries in the 1960s? (3 pts)
12. What has therefore happened to older industrial regions as a result? (3 pts)
13. How did the rise of a new technological system impact the distribution of jobs in the U.S.?
(3 pts)
14. New investment in high-technology industries has been attracted to ‘new industrial spaces’.
How do these new industrial spaces differ from the old ones in terms of their characteristics? (3
pts)
15. What are the three different kinds of new industrial spaces that have been identified in
Europe and North America and what are some examples? (5 points)
16. What is commodity fetishism? (2 points) And why is it important to capitalism? (2 points)
17. Do you think it is still true that department stores are the “urban cathedrals of
contemporary capitalism?” (3 points)
PART B: This multi-part research project is intended to have you apply some of the concepts in the
above-mentioned chapter to a real-world example. The State of Connecticut and New England in
general, have numerous examples of places that would provide appropriate case studies. You may
choose any place you wish and use a variety of research methods to answer the questions. Methods
include archival research (good sources are local historical societies—many of which now have
collections online) or interviews (of your parents, grandparents, neighbors etc)
Choose a place (this could be a particular mill or factory, or abandoned or under-utilized mall, or
a town), and answer the following questions: (total points 49) Please include both text and images
or maps if you think that they help to support your examination of the changes.
a) What have been the main industries (or stores, in the case of strip malls) located there?
(5 pts)
b) What markets did these industries serve and where were raw materials and components
supplied from? (5 pts)
c) In what ways has this area been affected by successive waves of industrialization? (6 pts)
d) How have the economic fortunes of the place changed over time? (5 pts)
e) What key institutions have shaped the process of economic development? (5 pts)
f) Can this be understood in relation to changing spatial division of labor? (5 pts)
g) Has the area been affected by deindustrialization since the 1970s? (5 pts)
h) Have any new industries or new forms of investment grown in the same period? (5 pts)
i) What are the economic prospects of the area in 2017? (8 pts)
Examples of Useful Sources for Archival Research:
http://www.manchesterhistory.org/MHS3_Home.html
Babbidge Library (especially the map library on the 4th floor or via the web:
http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/historical_maps.htm
CT Historical Society
https://chs.org/?gclid=COWbw8eEjtICFQVAhgodBEQLSQ
Willimantic Textile and History Museum
http://www.millmuseum.org/