The Social Construction of the Ocean
The Social Construction of the Ocean
$129.00
USDThis 2001 book presents a history of the uses, regulations and representation of the world-ocean, from approximately 1450 through the present. This history is told through a 'territorial political economy' lens, borrowing from world-systems theory, economic-geographic studies of the spatiality of capitalism, political-geographic work on the history of territoriality, and post-structural work on social conflict in the production of space. Just as the modern era has been characterized by a conflicting set of dynamic and contested spatiality on land, so has it been characterized by a conflicting set of spatial functions at sea. Evidence is marshaled from legal texts, literary and artistic creations, cartographic representations, advertisements, commercial and military history, and policy debates. The book concludes by considering how lessons learned from the history of the ocean may be applied to emerging spaces, such as cyberspace, where there is a similarly problematic 'fit' between social processes and the institutions of state governance.
- Unique application of social and state theory to the ocean
- Unique integration of legal/political history with cultural history as depicted in paintings, literature, advertisements, films, etc.
- Weaves together theoretical debates with an engaging - even at times dramatic - narrative style, providing crossover appeal to a nonacademic audience
Reviews & endorsements
"Steinberg lucidly summarizes the book's major themes: the sea is not a place, but it is a space 'where social contradictions are worked through, social change transpires, and future social relations are imagined' (p. 209). This is an apt summary of an excellent book, which makes a highly original contribution to a much-underconsidered portion of political geography in theoretically-nuanced and empirically-informative ways. It is not only the first such major contribution to the study of the political economy-and-geography of the oceans, but destined to be a classic." Political Geography
"This is much more than a social constructionist's book about the sea. Steinberg has produced a splendid,innovative text that will be of interest to all social scientists with an interest in the historical development of the modern world from outside narrow nationalist perspectives." Peter J. Taylor, Loughborough University
"This is much more than a social constructionist's book about the sea. Steinberg has produced a splendid,innovative text that will be of interest to all social scientists with an interest in the historical development of the modern world from outside narrow nationalist perspectives." Peter J. Taylor, Loughborough University
"The subject is fascinating, and the author offers an admirable sweep of the ways in which the ocean has been used and depicted over the past 500 years or so. He draws on a rich variety of source materials, and some of [his] ideas sparkle...." Choice
"In a relatively short book, Philip Steinberg succeeds in explaining the social and historical nature of our past and present conceptualizations of the sea." Journal of World History, Hans K. Van Tilburg, NOAA Ocean Service
Product details
December 2001Hardback
9780521804431
258 pages
229 × 152 × 19 mm
0.55kg
12 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction: from Davy Jones' locker to the Foot Locker: the case of the floating Nikes
- 1. The social construction of ocean-space
- 2. Ocean-space in non-modern societies
- 3. Ocean-space and merchant capitalism
- 4. Ocean-space and industrial capitalism
- 5. Ocean-space and postmodern capitalism
- 6. Beyond postmodern capitalism, beyond ocean-space.
