Essay on the aims and outcomes of the ‘Quantitative Revolution’ in geography
The ‘Quantitative Revolution’ in geography refers to the era in the 1950s and 60s when the subject adjusted to a more scientific approach seeking objectivity in the testing of hypotheses and theories. A series of statistical and mathematical techniques and abstract models were adopted leading to a radical transformation of spirit and purpose (Burton, 1963, p151) in Anglo-American geography. As a part of this revolution the old ideographic geography based around areal differentiation and regional geography was displaced. Regional geography was heavily criticised for being too specific and incapable of contributing towards effective generalisation. Both Bunge (1962) and Haggett (1965) argued that ‘one can do little with the unique except contemplate its uniqueness’. Thus, the aims of the quantitative revolution were to overcome this specificity and establish nomothetic (universal/general) model-based paradigms. However, as this essay will show, the quantitative revolution was itself as narrowly focussed and blinkered as the regional geography it replaced.
Nevertheless, it did provide greater theoretical awareness within the subject meaning that today this awareness no longer hinges on a simple ideographic-nomothetic binary. Instead, interest in the philosophy of realism and a more focussed contextual approach to geography, together with a critique of grand theory and an interest in situated knowledges, has produced a more nuanced understanding of both the powers and limits of ‘theory’.
The quantitative revolution was formulated around the paradigm of spatial science associated with the philosophy of positivism (the advancement of science through the formal construction of theories and scientific laws). Spatial science involved the presentation of human geography as a key component of social science, which concentrates on the role of space as the fundamental variable influencing both society’s organisation and operation and the behaviour of its individual members (Cox, 1976). Berry and Marble (1968) expressed the goal of spatial science as…
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Tags: Anglo-American, positivism, Quantitative Revolution, spatial relationships
