The Dictionary of Human Geography

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order to improve competitiveness. Peck

(2005) sounds a cautionary note, however,

noting that discourses surrounding the know-

ledge economy and a supposed ‘creative

class’ have led to the prioritization of the

needs of workers with certain skill sets and

the marginalization of nominally ‘non-cre-

ative’, ‘non-innovative’ workers in non-know-

ledge-intensive occupations (from cleaners to

caterers to public transport operators), with-

out which the knowledge economy cannot op-

erate. jf

Suggested reading

Dunning (2000); Gregerson and Johnson

(1997).

Kondratieff waves Cycles in economic

activity in the world economy, with a wave-

length of 40–60 years. Shorter oscillations may

be superimposed over these long waves,

but Kondratieff waves imply fundamental

qualitative transformations through alternat-

ing sequences of growth and stagnation

rather than mere quantitative fluctuations in

economic activity (see figure on page 401).

Soviet economist Nikolai Kondratieff (1892–

1938) claimed to have identified long waves in

the 1920s, and since then there has been con-

siderable interest in and controversy over the

connections between them and the dynamics

ofuneven developmentundercapitalism.

Mandel (1980) argues that there is a systemic

relationship between long waves and capitalist

restructuring, for example, while Maddison

(1982) accepts the existence of major phases

of capitalist growth but insists that these have

been the result of ‘specific disturbances of

an ad hoccharacter’. Scholars who accept

a systemic relationship typically fasten on

technological change: technicalinnovations

often cluster during recessions, when they

open the door to revived profits and to wider

transformations in thelabour process,re-

gimes of accumulationand the like. On

this basis, Kondratieff waves have been asso-

ciated with technological revolutions (cf.indus-

trial revolution) and sectoral growth – for

example:

(1) steam power and machinofacture in the

textile industries;

(2) the spread of railways and the growth of

the iron and steel industries;

(3) electricity, petroleum and the chemical

and automobile industries;

(4) electronics, synthetics and petrochem-

icals; and

(5) information technology, telecommunica-

tions and biotechnology.

This is only an example; several different

schemes have been proposed. Technical in-

novations are not only distinguished by peri-

odicity, however, but also have distinctive

geographies: spatial loci of experimentation

and innovation, and networks ofdiffusion.

The complex of changes represented by these

cycles and phases thus has a profound impact

on and is also deeply affected by geographies

of production and reproduction (see, e.g.,

Marshall, 1987; Hall and Preston, 1988;

Dicken, 2007). Some scholars have also pro-

posed a close association between Kondratieff

waves and the global geography ofwar(see,

e.g., Goldstein, 1988; Devezas, 2006). rl

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_K Final Proof page 403 31.3.2009 2:26pm

KONDRATIEFF WAVES