The Dictionary of Human Geography

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Multiple regression equations have the form

Y¼aþb 1 X 1 þb 2 X 2 þ... þbnXne,

in which each of the independent variables

(X 1 ,X 2 ,...,Xn) has an associatedpartial

regression coefficient(b 1 ,b 2 ,. .. ) indicating the

amount of change inYfor each unit change in

the relevantXvariable, assuming no change in

any otherX. (See alsogeneral linear model;

geographically weighted regression;logit

regression models;multi-level modelling;

poisson regression.) rj

Suggested reading

O’Brien (1992).

regulation theory A branch of contempor-

ary political-economic theory, influenced by

marxism, which seeks to explain the growth,

crisis and transformation ofcapitalism, with

particular reference to historically, geograph-

ically and institutionally specific conditions.

Regulation theorists balance a Marxian

emphasis on the structures, ‘laws of motion’

and incipientcrisistendencies of capitalist

economies with an appreciation of (a) the vari-

ability exhibited in forms of economic

growthover time and space and (b) the com-

plex of social and institutional forces that

serve to channel and sustain particular forms

of economic growth, and defer crises, over

periods of decades. Here, ‘regulation’ does

not simply denote laws and rules but, after

the Frenchre ́gulation, refers to processes of

social regularization.

The central concept in regulation theory is

theregime of accumulation, a historically

distinctive and relatively durable form of

growth, based on a particular nexus of produc-

tion/consumption and a supporting ‘mode

of regulation’ (an ensemble of organizational

forms, networks, and institutions, rules,

norms and patterns of conduct, including a

distinctively capitaliststate). Regulation the-

ory rose to prominence in the 1980s, following

the French regulationists’ seminal analysis of

fordism – the regime of mass production

and mass consumption that prevailed in

North America and Western Europe during

the period between the mid-1940s and the

mid-1970s. Fordism was accompanied by a

‘Keynesian-welfarist’ mode of regulation

(including an interventionist nation-state,

a coordinated industrial relations system, a

managed regime of internationaltradeand

finance, expansionist social welfare policies

and the generalization of mass-consumption

norms). Initially developed by Michel

Aglietta, these arguments became well known

in geography through the work of Alain

Lipietz, Robert Boyer and their pre-eminent

British ‘translator’, Bob Jessop.

Regulationist approaches became influential

ingeographyafter the late 1980s, where they

were invoked in debates around the decline

and restructuring of Fordist manufacturing

industries (paradigmatically, automobile pro-

duction) and – more controversially – in the

rise of putative successors to Fordism, such as

flexible specialization, flexible accumula-

tion andpost-fordism (see Scott, 1988a;

Tickell and Peck, 1992). For the most part,

regulationists prefer to remain somewhat

agnostic on the question of Fordism’s succes-

sor, despite the evidence of extensive experi-

mentation in flexible production systems and

new forms of governance, since the criteria

for regimes of accumulation emphasize the

medium-term reproduction and inter-

penetration of these structures, most often

demonstrated through historical analysis.

Subsequent regulationist-inspired work in

geography has focused on emergent forms of

institutional regulation and governance,

which are evidently less centred on the

national state than had been the case in the

Fordist era (see MacLeod, 2001), in contrast

with the rather more economistic tradition of

the original French school (see Boyer and

Saillard, 2002). In turn, regulationist concerns

have shaped the growing body of work on

neo-liberalism, raising questions about the

character, origins and socio-economic impli-

cations of such market-oriented modes of

regulation. While strict adherence to regula-

tionist principles has become increasingly

regression

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_R-new Final Proof page 640 2.4.2009 9:12pm

REGULATION THEORY