Theory and Explanation in Geography

Henry Wai-chung Yeung is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Geography and Co-Director of Global Production Networks Centre at the National University of Singapore, Singapore. He is the recipient of multiple research awards, including the 2022 Sir Peter Hall Award for Lifetime Contribution by the Regional Studies Association in the UK, the 2018 Distinguished Scholarship Honors by the American Association of Geographers, and the 2017 Murchison Award by the Royal Geographical Society, UK.

List of Tables ix

List of Figures x

Preface and Acknowledgement xi

1. Critical Human Geography Today: A Multitude of Approaches and Concepts? 1

Main Argument and Approach 5

Important Caveats: What This Book Is Not About 9

Key Considerations: Of/For Theory and Explanation 15

Chapter Outlines 20

Notes 26

2. Contemporary Geographical Thought: Theory and Explanation 36

Theory in Marxism 42

Theories in Poststructuralism and Post-Phenomenology/Posthumanism 44

Actor-Network Theory 45

Non-Representational Theory 50

Assemblage Theory 54

Post-Phenomenology and Posthumanism 62

Theories in Feminism and Postcolonialism 67

Feminist Theory 69

Postcolonial Theory 76

Notes 81

3. What Kind of Theory for What Kind of Human Geography? 95

Analytical Geographies: Theory and Explanation in Geography 97

From Concepts to Theories 99

From Theory to Explanation in Geography 103

Mid-Range Theories: Critical Realism, Causal Mechanisms, and Relational Thinking 107

What Realism -- Critical and/or Speculative? 109

Causal Mechanisms and Relational Thinking in Mid-Range Theories 116

Notes 121

4. Relational Theory 129

Relationality and Relational Thought in Contemporary Human

Geography 131

Relationality in Marxian and Institutional Geographies 134

Relational Thought in Poststructuralist, Feminist, and Postcolonial Geographies 139

Making Things Happen: Towards a Relational Theory 151

Rethinking Relational Thought: Relationality and Power 153

Causal Powers and Relationality in Relational Geometries 157

Notes 165

5. Mechanism and Process in Causal Explanation 173

Theorizing Mechanism in Causal Explanation 175

Reconceptualizing Mechanism, Process, and Context 178

Causal Theory and Actors 185

Processual Thought in Geography 188

From Process to Mechanism: Explanatory Theory/Theorizing in Geography 195

Why Neoliberalization? 196

Neoliberalization: What's in a Process and What Can Go Wrong? 199

Explaining Neoliberalism 'with Chinese Characteristics': How Might the Process-Mechanism Distinction Work? 203

Notes 207

6. Theorizing Globalization: Explanatory Theory, Situated Knowledges, and 'Theorizing Back' 212

Globalization as Geographical Processes 215

A Causal Theory of Global Production Networks: Explaining Globalization and Its Socio-Spatial Outcomes 221

Beyond Situated Knowledges: 'Theorizing Back' and Making Theory Work 228

Are Situated Knowledges Good Enough? 229

Theorizing Back: Strategic Coupling and Global Economic Geographies 235

Making Theory Work: The Trouble with Global Production Networks 240

Notes 245

7. What Kind of Geography for What Kind of Social Science? 252

Towards Analytical Geographies: Mid-Range Geographical Theories for Social Science 256

Beyond 'Academic Esotericism': Analytical Geographies for Public Engagement and Policy 261

Notes 266

References 269

Index 313