Massey, Doreen 1944–

(Doreen Barbara Massey)

PERSONAL:

Born 1944. Education: Oxford University, B.A.; University of Philadelphia, M.A.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Open University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, England. E-mail—d.b.massey@open.ac.uk.

CAREER:

Academic and geographer. Open University, Milton Keynes, England, professor of geography. Royal Society of Arts fellow, 2000; St. Hugh's College, Oxford University honorary fellow, 2001; British Academy fellow, 2002.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Victoria Medal, Royal Geographical Society, 1994; Prix Vautrin Lud, 1998; Anders Retzius Medal in Gold, Swedish Society of Anthropologists and Geographers, 2003; honorary doctor of science, Edinburgh University, 2006; honorary doctor of literature, National University of Ireland, 2006.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with M. Cordey-Hayes) An Operational Urban Development Model of Cheshire, Centre for Environmental Studies (London, England), 1970.

The Basic: Service Categorisation in Planning, Centre for Environmental Studies (London, England), 1971.

Towards a Critique of Industrial Location Theory, Centre for Environmental Studies (London, England), 1974.

(Editor, with P.W.J. Batey) Alternative Frameworks for Analysis, Pion (London, England), 1977.

(With Alejandrina Catalano) Capital and Land: Landownership by Capital in Great Britain, E. Arnold (London, England), 1978.

(With Richard A. Meegan) The Geography of Industrial Reorganisation: The Spatial Effects of the Restructuring of the Electrical Engineering Sector under the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, Pergamon Press (New York, NY), 1979.

(With Richard Meegan) The Anatomy of Job Loss: The How, Why, and Where of Employment Decline, Methuen (New York, NY), 1982.

(Editor, with John Allen and James Anderson) Geography Matters! A Reader, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1984.

Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production, Methuen (New York, NY), 1984.

(Editor, with Richard Meegan) Politics and Method: Contrasting Studies in Industrial Geography, Methuen (New York, NY), 1985.

Nicaragua, Open University Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1987.

(Editor, with John Allen) Uneven Re-development: Cities and Regions in Transition: A Reader, Hodder and Stoughton (London, England), 1988.

(Editor, with John Allen) The Economy in Question, Sage (Newbury Park, CA), 1988.

Global Restructuring, Local Responses, Graduate School of Geography (Worcester, MA), 1988.

(With Frene Ginwala and Maureen Mackintosh) Gender and Economic Policy in a Democratic South Africa, Open University (Milton Keynes, England), 1991.

(With Paul Quintas and David Wield) High-tech Fantasies: Science Parks in Society, Science, and Space, Routledge (New York, NY), 1992.

Space, Place, and Gender, University of Minnesota Press (Minneapolis, MN), 1994.

Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production, Routledge (New York, NY), 1995.

(Editor, with Stuart Hall and Michael Rustin) The Next Ten Years, Soundings (London, England), 1997.

(With John Allen, Allan Cochrane, and Julie Charlesworth) Rethinking the Region, Routledge (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor, with John Allen and Steve Pile) City Worlds, Routledge (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor, with John Allen and Michael Pryke) Unsettling Cities, Routledge (New York, NY), 1999.

(Editor, with John Allen and Philip Sarre) Human Geography Today, Blackwell (Malden, MA), 1999.

For Space, Sage (Thousand Oaks, CA), 2005.

World City, Polity Press (Cambridge, England), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals and academic journals, including Soundings, Erdkunde, and the Journal of Material Culture. Cofounder and coeditor of Soundings.

SIDELIGHTS:

Doreen Massey is an academic and geographer. Born in 1944, she completed her higher education at Oxford University and the University of Philadelphia. She eventually became a professor of geography at Open University in Milton Keynes, England's. Massey is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (2000), an Oxford University St. Hugh's College honorary fellow (2001), and a British Academy fellow (2002). Her work in the field of geography has received a number of awards, including the Royal Geographical Society's Victoria Medal in 1994 and the Swedish Society of Anthropologists and Geographers' Anders Retzius Medal in Gold in 2003, and the author has received a number of honorary doctorates.

Massey published Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production in 1985. Using Marxist theories, Massey shows how British industrial geography has evolved since the mid-twentieth century.

Ruth Fincher, writing in Professional Geographer, noted that Massey "makes an elaborate and sophisticated argument" in the text. Fincher pointed out that her "only criticism of Massey's excellent book is that it fails to demonstrate, even conceptually, how the local politics which she deems so central to the experience of large-scale change in particular regions can have any effect on the nature of that change itself."

That same year Massey edited Politics and Method: Contrasting Studies in Industrial Geography with Richard Meegan. Born from a 1983 conference on the various approaches to industrial geography, the book proposes that the expansion on the scholarship concerning industrial geography is providing new ways to look into the concept and looks into various channels of this proliferation.

William B. Beyers, reviewing the book in Professional Geographer, concluded that "this short volume does not allow sufficient space for the arguments of its contributors to be seen in ‘full bloom.’ However, it does provide a useful overview of some current research by British industrial geographers."

With Paul Quintas and David Wield, Massey published High-tech Fantasies: Science Parks in Society, Science, and Space in 1992. The book looks primarily at the United Kingdom and the relationships between science and society and their spatial outcomes.

Daniel Felsentein, writing in Economic Geography, found that "like much of the work with which Doreen Massey is associated, this is a lucidly written and thought-provoking book." Felsentein noted that the authors "skillfully avoid some of the pitfalls associated with ‘uncovering the layers of reality’ that lie beneath basic empiricism, although at times one is left with the impression that in the reconstruction of reality on the basis of alternative explanation, what is really offered is alternative hypotheses for an observed outcome. Prior to reading this book, however, I had always looked on science parks as conceptually ‘blank’ categories. This book certainly contributed to a revision of that position." Felsentein concluded that "this book leaves us with two important themes relating to the economic development impacts of science parks. The first relates to their ‘enclave’-like character. They are often islands of high-tech activities, nodes in a network that is of little local consequence. Second, their symbolic importance can often outweigh their importance measured in terms of traditional economic variables."

Massey published Space, Place, and Gender in 1994. The account is a collection of Massey's essays on the connections between space, place, and gender from 1978 to 1992.

Joyce Gelb, reviewing the book in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, observed that "this is a rich and provocative collection of essays, which range widely over issues and controversies related to space, time, place, politics, and gender. The strength of the book is in the range of subject matter and exploration among the essays; this is also an occasional source of weakness," noting that "there is occasionally a dated feel to some of the earlier essays, and often repetition of subject matter and even specific topics, found in some of the different readings." "Nonetheless," Gelb concluded, "this is an important collection." Lisa Adkins, writing in Urban Studies, remarked that "the collection certainly reveals the importance of the contribution Massey has made to recent shifts and turns in geography. For this reason, students and anyone unfamiliar with her arguments regarding social space will find the book of great value."

In 1998 Massey published Rethinking the Region with John Allen, Allan Cochrane, and Julie Charlesworth. Massey argues that regions are not static entities, but fluid and constantly changing in their social realms.

Robert A. Sirk, writing in the Journal of Cultural Geography, found the account to be "well-written," adding that "the authors are to be commended for the depth and straightforward character that they give to this text. Their observations and conclusions are appropriate, and place-specific jargon is minimized, though there are nuances to their discussions of United Kingdom locations that may be lost." A contributor to Urban Studies called it "a challenging book," noting that "its importance is considerably greater than the case-study approach would suggest."

In 1999 Massey edited City Worlds with John Allen and Steve Pile. The book examines cities outside of the traditional parameters of freestanding entities in geographically discrete places whose success is directly impacted by their physical location.

Tony Harrison, writing in Planning Theory & Practice, commented that after finishing the text, he "was unsure whether I had read a social science text or a piece of critical art history. Maybe this does not matter. I had certainly been prompted to look at the city … in new ways. But I remain to be convinced, given the problems of cities, that a freestanding text on such a significant issue can ignore more conventional treatments that set out the evidence on" social exclusion or income distribution. Anne Haila, reviewing the book in Urban Studies, remarked that "the many long extracts from books and articles make the text quite heavy to read." However, Haila conceded that "City Worlds is a charming little book that will make urban studies known to a wider audience and known as a discipline." Haila additionally pointed out that "I appreciate … the use of many photographs. In general, I find it difficult to understand how urban studies can so often ignore the built environment and pictures of it."

Massey edited Human Geography Today, also published in 1999 with John Allen and Philip Sarre. The book is a collection of fourteen essays concerning the postmodernism, poststructuralism, space-place-nature relationships, and cultural turns of human geography.

Writing a review of the book in the Geographical Journal, William Gould commented that "this is an important book, pitched at the research frontier, with as much to say to non-geographers looking in as to geographers looking forward." Gould added that Human Geography Today "deserves to be widely and closely read within the discipline."

In 2005 Massey published For Space. The book is an investigation into the spatialization of social theory, particularly looking at how space has been theorized through various disciplines, including philosophy, social theory, and geography.

Kevin R. Cox, reviewing the book in Economic Geography, found that "For Space is a book that makes major claims and, for the most part, makes them convincingly. It is carefully argued and cleverly illustrated and situates itself appealingly with respect to ongoing debates, both intellectual and public. Having read it, the reader is unlikely to view the world in the same way; it is that important." Cox opined, however, that "there is ultimately a one-sidedness to it that leaves the argument less than it might have been," although he conceded that "perhaps it is necessary to state things thus if they are to leave an impression. This book certainly does that." Cox lauded that Massey's "argument is a powerful one with wide ramifications" that ultimately "will make a difference."

Massey published World City in 2007. Here Massey examines London's standing as a debatably all-encompassing significant city on the world stage. Deborah Orr, writing in the London Independent, noted that the author "is very sound on the general absurdity of always championing competition over cooperation, and her mind-map of the consequences of the City's influence is the very best thing about the book."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Acta Sociologica, September 1, 1995, Ragnhild Skogheim, review of Space, Place, and Gender, p. 278.

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, June 1, 1987, Gordon L. Clark, review of Politics and Method: Contrasting Studies in Industrial Geography, p. 297; June 1, 1987, Edward W. Soja, review of Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production, p. 289; June 1, 2000, Mary Beth Pudup, review of Rethinking the Region, p. 404; March 1, 2001, review of Human Geography Today, p. 237.

Canadian Geographer, June 22, 1996, Fran Klodawsky, review of Space, Place, and Gender, p. 183.

Contemporary Sociology, May 1, 1993, Martin Kenney, review of High-tech Fantasies: Science Parks in Society, Science, and Space, p. 428.

Economic Geography, July 1, 1983, review of The Anatomy of Job Loss: The How, Why, and Where of Employment Decline, p. 330; July 1, 1985, review of Spatial Divisions of Labor, p. 290; January 1, 1994, Daniel Felsentein, review of Hightech Fantasies, p. 72; July 1, 2006, Kevin R. Cox, review of For Space, p. 339.

Geographical Journal, July 1, 1990, review of Uneven Re-development: Cities and Regions in Transition: A Reader, p. 233; March 1, 1997, "A Place in the World?," p. 102; September 1, 2000, William Gould, review of Human Geography Today, p. 281.

Geographical Review, July 1, 1987, James O. Wheeler, review of Politics and Method, p. 377.

Geography, June 1, 1989, A. Moyes, review of Uneven Re-development, p. 287; January 1, 2000, G.J. Ashworth, review of City Worlds, p. 95.

Independent (London, England), September 7, 2007, Deborah Orr, review of World City.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, March 1, 1993, Peter Dickens, review of High-tech Fantasies, p. 140.

Journal of Communication, fall, 1992, review of High-tech Fantasies, p. 207.

Journal of Cultural Geography, spring, 1999, Robert A. Sirk, review of Rethinking the Region.

Journal of Economic Literature, September 1, 1986, review of Politics and Method, p. 1344; December 1, 1992, review of High-tech Fantasies, p. 2288.

Journal of Historical Geography, October 1, 2006, Tim Ingold, review of For Space, p. 891.

New Zealand Geographer, October 1, 1999, Richard Le Heron, review of Human Geography Today, p. 80.

Planning Theory & Practice, September, 2000, Tony Harrison, review of City Worlds, p. 148.

Political Geography, May 1, 1999, Mike Goldsmith, review of Rethinking the Region, p. 529.

Professional Geographer, November, 1986, Ruth Fincher, review of Spatial Divisions of Labor, pp. 445-446; November, 1987, William B. Beyers, review of Politics and Method, pp. 506-507.

Reference & Research Book News, May 1, 2005, review of For Space, p. 83.

Research-Technology Management, January 1, 1996, "Along the Road: R&D, Society and Space."

Service Industries Journal, October 1, 1993, Peter Roberts, review of High-tech Fantasies, p. 335.

Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, August 1, 1996, Joyce Gelb, review of Space, Place, and Gender, p. 247.

Sociological Review, August 1, 1995, Gillian Rose, review of Space, Place, and Gender, p. 583.

Times Higher Education Supplement, May 28, 1999, John Whitelegg, review of City Worlds, p. 19.

Urban Studies, April 1, 1989, review of Nicaragua, p. 283; June 1, 1996, Lisa Adkins, review of Space, Place, and Gender, p. 1028; July 1, 1998, review of Rethinking the Region, p. 1409; April 1, 2000, Anne Haila, review of City Worlds, p. 815.

ONLINE

Open University Web site,http://www.open.ac.uk/ (June 9, 2008), author profile.