The Dictionary of Human Geography

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Bristol is sometimes referred to as the UK’s

sunbelt. rj

Suggested reading

Markusen (1987).

sunk costs Incurred costs that are invariant

with output (unlike variable costs) and can-

not readily be recouped. Ineconomic geog-

raphy, sunk costs include those made by a

firm in a particular location which, because

they cannot be recouped, act as a disincentive

to either or both of restructuring and

relocation – that is, for the firm exiting either

the activity or the place (cf.exit, voice and

loyalty). Clark and Wrigley (1995) identi-

fied three types of sunk cost:set-up sunk costs

(initial investments in plant and machinery,

for example);accumulated sunk costs(normal,

unrecoupable, costs of doing business); and

exit sunk costs(such as those involved not only

in abandoning premises and plant, but also in

making workers redundant and paying for

their pensions). They identify three types of

exit strategy that involve acceptance of sunk

costs that might not be (fully) recovered:

strategic reallocation– using the resources for

different activities, which will incur costs

(re-equipping a plant, for example, and

retraining workers);restructuring,which

may involve either or both of plant closure

and staff redundancy; and corporate ref-

ormation, which may involve bankruptcy or

liquidation.

Clark and Wrigley (1995, p. 210) present

15 separate propositions regarding sunk costs

and their importance to their ‘belief that the

management of sunk costs across a variety of

competitive domains is a vital component in

any explanation of the spatial patterns of

restructuring’. The accumulation of sunk

costs can reduce a firm’s flexibility and thus

its ability to respond to the changing pres-

sures associated withglobalization.Firms

are rarely able to respond costlessly to those

imperatives, but those that economize on

their sunk costs should be better placed to

respond to changing patterns and geograph-

ies of supply and demand. rj

Suggested reading

Baumol and Willig (1981); Clark and Wrigley

(1997).

surface A surface is the exterior side of

something, or the conceptual boundary

from the outside to the inside of a three-

dimensional object. The Earth is an irregu-

lar spheroid; its surface (of elevation) is

ground or sea level. The surface is continu-

ous but, within a study region, sampling

height everywhere is impossible. Instead,

thesurfacecanbeapproximatedbyaseries

of discrete (x,y,z) data tuples (e.g.xandy

are longitude and latitude; z is height

above mean sea level), or as a mathematical

model (e.g. atrend surface). Thezis not

limited to elevation, however: statistical

surfaces are also used to visualize ‘hot spots’

of crime, disease,etc.,forwhichlocal

statistics and methods of local interpol-

ation (such as population surface modelling:

Martin, Tate and Langford, 2000) are

important. rh

Suggested reading

Burrough and McDonnell (1998).

surveillance The observation or monitoring

of social behaviour by individuals and insti-

tutions. Typically, surveillance straddles or

compresses the geographical distance between

its subject(s) and the person(s) tasked with

undertaking the monitoring (cf.time–space

compression). Virtually all social relations

involve elements of surveillance. However, ini-

tiatives involving mass or institutionalized sur-

veillance are most often legitimized as a

purported means to minimize risk or to

enforce some notion of normalization or dis-

cipline over a population or place portrayed as

hazardous, deviant or pathological (see also

security).

human geographyhas shown a growing

recent interest in surveillance and its imbri-

cations withmodernity.Akeystimulushas

been the writings of French philosopher

Michel Foucault, and in particular

Surveillir et punir (1975), translated into

English as Discipline and punish (1977a

[1975]). Through an analysis of Bentham’s

panopticonand history of Frenchprisons,

Foucault argued that distinctively modern

societies were dominated by what he called

disciplinary power. This operated through

spatially partitioning societies into prisons,

workhouses, clinics, barracks, schools and

so on. At the same time, architectural tech-

niques were applied to these institutions

that allowed persistent visual inspection

and control by supervisors. Foucault’s cru-

cial point was that by internalizing this

possibility of scrutiny, subjects became

‘normalized’ by monitoring, moderating

and controlling their own behaviour.

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SURVEILLANCE