FROM POSITIVIST GEOGRAPHY TO MARXIST GEOGRAPHY: AN ENGLISH GEOGRAPHER DAVID HARVEY

Authors : Serhat Zaman, Fırat Güven

Pages : 79-91

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Publication Date : 2025-06-14

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The aim of this study is to examine the transition of David Harvey one of the leading geographers of our time from the positivist paradigm to the Marxist paradigm through the method of document analysis, and to analyze the factors that played a fundamental role in this transition by investigating Harvey’s paradigmatic shift process. As David Harvey is one of the most prolific and industrious geographers today, the literature includes a significant number of both primary works by Harvey and secondary studies that engage with his scholarship. Therefore, since it is not possible to review and analyze all of these works in detail, this study focuses on key works that reflect Harvey’s paradigmatic transformation. The scope of the study is thus limited not to Harvey’s geographical perspective or his broader body of work, but specifically to those works that illustrate his transition from the positivist paradigm to the Marxist paradigm. Today recognized as one of the leading figures in Marxist geography, Harvey was, in fact, one of the most ardent proponents of positivist geography during the early years of his academic career. From the early 1960s to the 1970s, over approximately a decade, Harvey produced works grounded in positivist philosophy and directed serious critiques toward the idiographic approach of traditional regional geographers. In 1969, Harvey authored Explanation in Geography, a methodological book in which he offered recommendations for the application of positivist methodology in geography. In this work, he advocated for the use of positivist philosophy in the study of geographical phenomena, aiming to liberate geography from the idiographic approach of traditional regional geography and transform the discipline into a more \\\"scientific\\\" and nomothetic structure. By the 1970s, after relocating from the United Kingdom to the United States (Baltimore), Harvey was deeply affected by the urban injustices, racism, and uneven spatial development he encountered there, which led him to question the inadequacy of the positivist paradigm in analyzing sociospatial processes. In addition to these experiences, his encounter with a group of Marxist academics and graduate students at his new position at Johns Hopkins University brought about profound transformations in his geographical perspective. During this period, Harvey began reading Marx and, in the following years, produced studies centered on sociospatial processes grounded in Marx’s ideas. In 1973, he consolidated these studies in his work Social Justice and the City, thereby laying the foundations for a sharp turn from positivist geography to Marxist geography.
Keywords : David Harvey, Marksist Coğrafya, Pozitivist Coğrafya, Paradigma, Explanation in Geography, Social Justice and City

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