The Dictionary of Human Geography

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Realism contends with various forms of

anti-realism in the guise ofpostmodernism,

pragmatismandsocial construction. A key

focus of debate concerns the meaningfulness

of referring to a reality outside of the concep-

tual systems that we use to talk about it. From

a pragmatist angle, Rorty (1979) argues that it

is meaningless to talk about conceptual systems

representing or ‘mirroring’ an extra-linguistic

reality (see alsorepresentation). In the soci-

ology of science, radical constructivists argue

that reality is not something existing outside of

scientific discourse, but is essentially a discur-

sive construction (seesocial construction).

Critical realists typically respond to such

claims with the argument that although social

reality may be highly concept-dependent, this

does not mean that it is concept-determinedin

such an idealist way.

The division between realism and anti-

realism runs through most areas of social

science, includingmarxism and feminism.

However, the divisions should not be exagger-

ated. A ‘realistic constructivism’ would recog-

nize both the ways in which scientific discourse

is powerfully shaped by social interests and

cultural values, and the constraining role of

objective material realities. The relationship

betweendiscourseand reality is an interactive

and reflexive one. At a more general level,

Sayer (2000) has argued powerfully that crit-

ical realism occupies a ‘Third Way’ between

the untenable extremes of empiricism on the

one hand and postmodernism on the other.

Certainly, critical realism was a vital interven-

tion in the critique ofspatial scienceand the

refinement ofmarxist geographyin particu-

lar; it was also invoked to underwritestruc-

turation theory. There was a lively debate

about ‘the difference that space makes’ to

explanationunder the sign of critical realism

(Sayer, 1985). Spatial relations are clearly

important in analysing the contingent circum-

stances, the specific combinations of condi-

tions under which causal powers might be

realized, but several geographers argued that

spatial relations also enter into the very consti-

tution of the social structures involved (see

space). For a time, critical realism also held

out the prospect of a plenarygeography,

drawing human geography into a conversation

withphysical geographythrough a commit-

ment to a common and recognizably ‘scientific’

programme. That was never achieved: by the

time most physical geographers had become

interested in realism, most human geographers

had started to ask critical questions about its

claims and consequences (e.g. Yeung, 1997),

and many of them soon moved on to explore

philosophies outside the confines of the phil-

osophy of science, which were typically treated

as resources rather than rule-books. kb/dg

Suggested reading

Brown, Fleetwood and Roberts (2002); Carter

and New (2004); Danermark, Ekstrom, Jakobsen

and Karlsson (2002); Sayer (2006).

recognition The recognition of rights and

needs tied toidentitybecame a focus of

much social movement activity in the 1980s

and 1990s. This is known as identity politics,

and is associated with a proliferation and frag-

mentation ofsocial movementsaround iden-

tities ofgender,race,disability,ethnicity,

sexuality(amongst others), taken up by some

statesas state-sponsoredmulticulturalism.

Criticisms of politics of recognition have come

from across the political spectrum.marxists

have expressed concern about the dissolution

of the unifyingclassstruggle. Withinfemi-

nism, Fraser and Honneth (2003) have drawn

a dichotomy between politics of recognition

and redistribution, arguing that the former

neglects political economic issues and geopol-

itical developments, as well as simplifying

and reifying group identities. (But see Butler

(1998) for the argument that this binary

misrepresents the complexity of calls for rec-

ognition insofar as they are typically inter-

twined with demands for redistribution.) In a

different register, feminists such as Grosz (2005)

advocate a politics of imperceptibility – a politics

that unleashes unexpected events and encoun-

ters without being identified with a person,

group or organization. Some European intellec-

tuals criticize the politics of identity and differ-

ence within their national context as another

instance of American cultural imperialism.

Mitchell (2004b) considers how this last critique

converges with a growing conservative backlash

against ‘differentialism’. gp

Suggested reading

Fraser (2000).

reconstruction Meaning ‘building again’,

reconstruction is generally used in thedevel-

opmentcommunity to refer to a cluster of

actions to restore or re-equip economies that

previously were developed or in transition to

sustainable economic growth. These are dis-

tinguished from actions aimed at stimulating

growth and good governance in the poorest

countries, those once described as underdevel-

oped. This distinction goes back at least as far

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