Harvey, David 1935-

PERSONAL:

Born 1935, in Jillingham, Kent, England. Education: Cambridge University, Ph.D., 1961.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, City University of New York Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave., New York, NY 10016-4309. E-mail—DHarvey@gc.cuny.edu.

CAREER:

Geographer, anthropologist, educator, and writer. City University of New York, New York, NY, from professor to distinguished professor of anthropology. Formerly professor of geography at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; a Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics, London, England; and Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography at Oxford University, Oxford, England.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Outstanding Contributor Award, Association of American Geographers; Centenary Medal, Royal Scottish Geographical Society, 2002, for his "outstanding contribution to the field of geographical enquiry and to anthropology"; holds honorary degrees from the University of Buenos Aires, University of Roskilde in Denmark, University of Uppsala in Sweden, and Ohio State University.

WRITINGS:

Explanation in Geography, Edward Arnold (London, England), 1969.

Society, the City, and the Space-Economy of Urbanism, Association of American Geographers (Washington, DC), 1972.

A Question of Method for a Matter of Survival, Department of Geography, University of Reading (Reading, Berkshire, England), 1973.

Social Justice and the City, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1973.

The Limits to Capital, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1982, updated edition, Verso (New York, NY), 2006.

The Urbanization of Capital: Studies in the History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization, John Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1985.

Consciousness and the Urban Experience: Studies in the History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization, John Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1985.

The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change, Blackwell (Cambridge, MA), 1989.

The Urban Experience, Johns Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD), 1989.

(Editor, with Teresa Hayter, and contributor,) The Factory and the City: The Story of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford, Mansell Publishing (New York, NY), 1993.

Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, Blackwell Publishers (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

(With John Beverley and Phil Cohen) Subculture and Homogenization, Fundacio Antoni Tapies (Barcelona, Spain), 1998.

Spaces of Hope, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2000.

Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography, Routledge (New York, NY), 2001.

The New Imperialism, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Paris, Capital of Modernity, Routledge (New York, NY), 2003.

A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Spaces of Global Capitalism, Verso (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

David Harvey was born and studied in England, where he also taught before moving to the United States in 1969. He is a renowned academic in geography and a prominent Marxist theorist whose interests include cultural, urbanization, environmental, political, economic, geographic, and social theory. He is also interested in advanced capitalist countries. Harvey is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books focusing on his areas of interest. "His first book, Explanation in Geography (1969) was an important intervention into the philosophy and methodology of geography," wrote Alberto Toscano on the Blackwell Synergy Web site. "In his 1973 Social Justice and the City, Harvey articulated a deeply influential critical geography, which married rigorous theoretical inquiry with a radical concern for the injustices and inequalities of capitalism, especially as expressed in processes of urbanization."

Harvey has gone on to write numerous other books. In The Limits to Capital, first published in 1982, the author provides an exposition and development of Karl Marx's critique of political economy. An updated version was published in 2006 to include a discussion of the modern turmoil in world markets. In his book, the author emphasizes that the economic theories of Marx cannot be understood in a linear approach building from a foundation up; this approach often results in producing only a partial and often incomplete understanding. Rather, writes Harvey, a thorough understanding of Marx's theories can only be understood after an arduous process of reasoning. Michael A. Lebowitz, writing a review of the first edition of The Limits to Capital in the Monthly Review, commented that the author "has fashioned here a unique and insightful theory of capital (beginning with the commodity and ending with inter-imperialist rivalry)," adding: "It is not a ‘quick read’ and deserves careful study."

Harvey is a contributor to, and the editor, with Teresa Hayter, of The Factory and the City: The Story of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford. The book presents a series of essays focusing on the partial closure of the Rover Group's plant at Cowley in Oxford at the end of the 1980s and the transfer of the work performed there to a nonunion Honda plant at Swindon, England. The plant's partial closure resulted in a loss of 20,000 jobs. The contributing essayists focus on how corporate decisions based on profitability override the interests of workers and communities. "This book shows that the debate over appropriate union strategy in the face of threatened or real plant closures is international," wrote Alex Blair in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Urban Studies contributor Andy Pike noted: "In its favour, the collection is more than an edited ‘top and tail’ of each of the contributions," adding: "The chapters link together well with useful introductions to each part. In addition, by involving a range of contributors, including academics, trade unionists, a Cowley worker and a film maker, different perspectives are included."

Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference deals with the politics of social and environmental justice. The author also ponders new ways to think about the future of urbanization within foundational concepts for understanding how space, time, place, and nature are constituted and represented through social practices and in relation to each other rather than as separate elements. As he explores how geographical differences are produced, Harvey illustrates how these differences are fundamental to exploring the political, economic, and ecological alternatives to contemporary life. Alan M. Hay, writing in the Geographical Journal, called Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference "a book with a strong message about geography as a phenomenon and geography as a discipline." Urban Studies contributor Gordon L. Clark commented: "He wants to show us that socialist politics is possible, that we can be joined in a sense of common purpose, and that we can do so with analytical tools like dialectical reasoning. In other words, he argues for dialectical materialism in the context of current theoretical fashions and impulses which threaten to fragment any sense of commonality into shards of subjectivity."

Spaces of Hope, published in 2000, "insightfully integrates Marxist theory with a spatial analysis of the global and local effects of an expanding capitalism," according to Canadian Dimension contributor Henry Heller. In his book, Harvey examines the uneven geographical development of capitalism in the late twentieth century in relation to the writings of Karl Marx. Pointing to the need for changes in global capitalism and economies, the author also writes about the importance of developing different living and working environments and bridging the needs of the personal and global political economy. In his analysis, the author looks at the history of utopian movements that have tried to create the type of society he supports. In addition, Harvey examines devastated urban environments, using Baltimore as his primary case study. He goes on to outline a new type of utopian thought and discusses possible approaches for creating a more equitable world of work that is in harmony with nature. Bernard S. Morris, writing in Utopian Studies, noted that the author "offers many interesting ideas and interpretations to challenge and reward the reader who makes the effort to study it out."

Harvey's next book, Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography, is a collection of the author's past articles and new essays. Spanning three decades, the writings focus primarily on the relationship between geographical thought and political power as well as the capitalist production of space. In his examination of the field of geography, he argues against the field's pretenses of scientific neutrality, primarily in his chapter titled "Population, Resources, and the Ideology of Science." The author also examines the work and careers of some of the seminal contributors to the field, such as Immanuel Kant, Charles Darwin, and Michel Foucault. In addition, Harvey discusses geography's significance for all the varieties of social thought. "Harvey delves deeply into the collective psyche of geography as a discipline," wrote John E. Dockall in the Library Journal.

In his examination of the capitalistic transformations that occurred in Paris from 1848 to 1871, titled Paris, Capital of Modernity, the author presents a series of essays that explores this turbulent era in the city's history, an era that was marked by two failed revolutions. Harvey's primary concern is how a new form of finance capitalism was combined with a new type of planning vision to produce the prototypical modern city. In his essays, the author touches on a wide range of subjects, including the creation of the Parisian boulevards as a consumerist spectacle and the creative visions of French writers such as Honoré de Balzac and Emile Zola. Writing in the Library Journal, Marie Marmo Mullaney called Paris, Capital of Modernity a "complex and sophisticated work for academics." In his review in the Canadian Geographer, Don Mitchell referred to the book as "a brilliant synoptic historical geography of the Second Empire coupled with a close reading of the Empire's pre-history in the work of Balzac, the dreams of Utopia that shaped the sensibilities of both its architects and its adversaries, its denoument in the Commune and its apotheosis in the Basilica Sacre Coeur."

The New Imperialism, also published in 2003, examines what the author sees as momentous shifts in U.S. policies and politics that has led the United States to suddenly shift from a politics of consensus to one of coercion on the world stage. In the process, the author examines the underlying forces at work behind the changes in U.S. international policies in the twenty-first century. Writing in the Geographical Review, Patrick O'Sullivan noted that the author's analysis "embraces the intricacies of international affairs, national politics, the structure and dynamics of the global economy, changing technology, and changing social relations."

In his 2005 book A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Harvey provides a history of the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in and of itself, and that this doctrine can act as a guide for all human action. Harvey examines the origins of neoliberalism and its rise to prominence in the 1970s and the 1980s, especially through the leadership of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In the process, the author also analyzes the political and economic dangers that he believes have partly resulted from neoliberalism and he then assesses the prospects for more socially just alternatives.

Buzz Flash Web site contributor Thom Hartmann commented that the author "has written the most brilliant, concise, and clear history of neoliberalism I've ever found," adding: "It should be required reading in every civics class in high-school and college in America, and everybody who votes or considers themselves informed about politics and economics (and the intersection of the two) should have a dog-eared copy next to their bed or favorite chair for regular re-reading." Tikkun contributor Jonathan Sterne noted that the author "argues that the primary effect of neoliberal practice has been to restore economic and political power to a narrow capitalist elite."

Spaces of Global Capitalism, published in 2006, provides an introduction to the field of historical geography as the author examines how this discipline can yield new insights into the workings of global capitalism. In the process, the author examines fiscal crises throughout the world and introduces his theory that the concept of uneven geographical development can provide a revelatory perspective on the forces that result in economic success or failure. An Internet Bookwatch contributor called the book "a cogent and persuasive warning" concerning the bad economic outcomes that can result "from neglecting harmful worldwide geo-social trends." Martin S. Kenzer, writing in Symploke, referred to Spaces of Global Capitalism as "brief in length yet brimming with content."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Book Review, March 1, 2007, Martin S. Kenzer, "A Marxist Makes His Case," review of Spaces of Global Capitalism, p. 7.

American Ethnologist, November, 1994, Mark Moberg, review of The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change, p. 915.

American Historical Review, December, 1983, review of The Limits to Capital, p. 1243; April, 1987, Gunther Barth, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience: Studies in the History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization, p. 386; April, 1987, Gunther Barth, review of The Urbanization of Capital: Studies in the History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization, p. 386.

American Journal of Sociology, January, 2007, Douglas Kellner, review of Paris, Capital of Modernity, p. 1250; July, 2007, George Ritzer, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 286.

American Literary History, fall, 1998, Sara Blair, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 544.

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, September, 1987, Andrew Lees, review of The Urbanization of Capital, p. 227.

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, March, 1987, John Walton, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 129; March, 1987, John Walton, review of The Urbanization of Capital, p. 129; September, 1991, Michael Dear, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 533; June 2001, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 449.

Canadian Dimension, July, 2000, Henry Heller, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 46.

Canadian Geographer, spring, 1991, Edward Relph, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 98; spring, 2005, Don Mitchell, review of Paris, Capital of Modernity, p. 115.

Canadian Literature, autumn, 1991, Eva-Marie Kroller, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 209.

Capital & Class, summer, 1995, Philip Garrahan, review of The Factory and the City: The Story of the Cowley Automobile Workers in Oxford, p. 147; autumn, 1998, Vincenzio Ruggiero, Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 166.

Choice, July, 1994, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 1683; June, 1997, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 1716; October, 2006, C.P. Waligorski, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 374.

Contemporary Sociology, September, 1991, Mark A. Schneider, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 772; January, 1992, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 11; January, 2002, Richard Peet, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 61; May, 2005, Ruth Levitas, review of The New Imperialism, p. 298; September, 2006, Sarah Babb, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 529.

Economic Development & Cultural Change, January, 1986, Michael A. Lebowitz, review of The Limits to Capital, p. 385; January, 1988, Janet L. Abu-Lughod, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 411; January, 1988, Janet L. Abu-Lughod, review of The Urbanization of Capital, p. 411.

Economic Geography, January, 1984, review of The Limits to Capital, p. 85; January, 1984, review of The Limits to Capital, p. 81; October, 1987, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 354; October, 1987, Peter Hall, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 354; October, 2006, Wendy Larner, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 449.

Ethics, October, 1983, Jack Knight, review of The Limits to Capital, p. 163.

Geographical, March, 2006, Chris Edwards "Helping the Rich Get Richer," review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 84.

Geographical Journal, July, 1990, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 233; July, 1990, review of The Urban Experience, p. 233; November, 1997, Alan M. Hay, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 320.

Geographical Review, January, 1988, Felix Driver, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 85; October, 1997, Kent Mathewson, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 554; April, 2003, Patrick O'Sullivan, review of The New Imperialism, p. 271.

Industrial and Labor Relations Review, January, 1996, Alex Blair, review of The Factory and the City, p. 358.

International Affairs, October, 2004, review of The New Imperialism, p. 992.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, June, 1994, Ray Hudson, review of The Factory and the City, p. 366; June, 1998, Susan S. Fainstein, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 339.

International Review of Social History, August, 2005, Charles Rearick, review of Paris, Capital of Modernity, p. 294.

Internet Bookwatch, September, 2006, review of Spaces of Global Capitalism.

Journal of Communication, spring, 1995, Majid Tehranian, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 185.

Journal of Economic History, December, 1987, Sanford Elwitt, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 993; December, 1987, San- ford Elwitt, review of The Urbanization of Capital, p. 993.

Journal of Economic Literature, June, 1986, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 749; June, 1986, review of The Urbanization of Capital, p. 804; June, 2000, review of The Limits to Capital, p. 490.

Journal of Historical Geography, January, 1991, Gillian Rose, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 118; January, 2001, Denis Cosgrove, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 98.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, winter, 1988, Elizabeth Blackmar, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 511.

Journal of Modern History, September, 1988, Robert J. Morris, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 574; September, 1988, Robert J. Morris, review of The Urbanization of Capital, p. 574; September, 2006, Philip Nord, review of Paris, Capital of Modernity, p. 730.

Journal of Peace Research, January, 2007, Simon Springer, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 126.

Journal of Regional Science, August, 2004, review of Paris, Capital of Modernity.

Labour/Le Travail, spring, 2007, Jeffery R. Webber, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 308.

Library Journal, January, 1990, T.L. Cooksey, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 113; February, 15, 2002, John E. Dockall, review of Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography, p. 169; October 1, 2003, Marie Marmo Mullaney, review of Paris, Capital of Modernity, p. 94.

Media, Culture & Society, October, 1990, Mike Cormack, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 550.

Monthly Review, June, 1986, Michael A. Lebowitz, review of The Limits to Capital, p. 33.

New Statesman & Society, February 16, 1990, Nigel Thrift, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 33.

New Zealand Geographer, April, 1998, David Conradson, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 57.

Parachute: Contemporary Art Magazine, July-September, 1991, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 52.

Plan Canada, March 1, 1988, review of Social Justice and the City, p. 37.

Political Geography, November, 2003, Paul Reynolds, review of Spaces of Capital, p. 928.

Professional Geographer, August, 2006, Eric P. Perramond, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 356.

Reference & Research Book News, August, 2006, review of Spaces of Global Capitalism.

Science & Society, spring, 1987, Matthew Edel, review of Consciousness and the Urban Experience, p. 121; spring, 1987, Matthew Edel, review of The Urbanization of Capital, p. 121.

Socialism and Democracy, summer-fall, 1992, Lyman H. Legters, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 308; summer-fall, 2002, Gianpaolo Baiocchi, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 192.

Sociological Review, November, 1994, Paul Bagguley, review of The Factory and the City, p. 823; November, 1997, Steve Hinchliffe, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 726; August, 2007, Andrzej Zieleniec, review of Spaces of Global Capitalism, p. 645.

Sociology, August, 1990, Linda McDowell, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 532; August, 1998, Gerry Mooney, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 623.

Symploke, winter-spring, 2006, Martin S. Kenzer, review of Spaces of Global Capitalism, p. 363.

Teachers College Record, February, 2003, Gregory Martin, review of Spaces of Capital, p. 134.

Tikkun, March-April, 2006, Jonathan Sterne, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 75.

Times Literary Supplement, May 11, 1990, Zygmunt Bauman, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 501; November 28, 2003, John Cassidy, "A Softer Power," review of The New Imperialism, p. 26.

University of Toronto Quarterly, spring, 1990, Charles Lock, review of The Condition of Postmodernity, p. 440.

Urban Geography, July 1, 2002, Andrew Herod, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 495; April 1, 2006, David Harvey, review of Paris, Capital of Modernity, p. 293.

Urban Studies, February, 1996, Andy Pike, review of The Factory and the City, p. 159; February, 1998, Gordon L. Clark, review of Justice, Nature, and the Geography of Difference, p. 344; March, 2001, David M. Smith, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 599; April, 2007, Bernd Belina, review of Spaces of Global Capitalism, p. 889.

Utopian Studies, winter, 2001, Bernard S. Morris, review of Spaces of Hope, p. 194.

WorkingUSA, December, 2006, Robert Ginsburg, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism, p. 481.

ONLINE

Aggulinations,http://agglutinations.com/ (November 3, 2003), Nader Vossoughian, "Interview with David Harvey: Questions about The New Imperialism."

Blackwell Synergy,http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/ (March 21, 2007), Alberto Toscano, interview with author.

Buzz Flash,http://www.buzzflash.com/ (September 24, 2007), Thom Hartmann, review of A Brief History of Neoliberalism.

Institute of International Studies, University of California Web site,http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/ (March 21, 2008), Harry Kreisler, "A Geographer's Perspective on the New American Imperialism," interview with author.

MR Zine,http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ (June 19, 2006), Sasha Lilley, "An Interview with David Harvey."

Graduate Center, City University of New York Web site,http://www.gc.cuny.edu/ (March 21, 2008), faculty profile of author.