The Dictionary of Human Geography

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politico-economic and cultural implications of

time–space convergence than in the geometric

structures that preoccupied the original archi-

tects of the concept. For much the same rea-

son, calibrations of time–space convergence

are now more likely to be situated within the

conceptual field oftime__space compression

that directly addresses such concerns. dg

Suggested reading

Brunn and Leinbach (1991); Janelle (1969).

time^space distanciation A term proposed

by British sociologist Anthony Giddens to de-

scribe the ‘stretching’ of social systems across

time and space. The concept played a central

role in his critique of modernsocial theory

and the development of his rivalstructura-

tion theory. Giddens argued that conven-

tional social theory was strongly influenced

by forms offunctionalism, which assumed

that societies are coherent and bounded

systems, and by models of social change that

presumed that the basic structural dimensions

of societies are internal to those systems.

Time–space distanciation was intended to con-

found both claims: ‘The nexus of relations –

political, economic or military – in which a

societyexists with others is usually integral to

the very nature of that society’ and, indeed, ‘to

what ‘‘societies’’ are conceived to be’ (Giddens,

1981). Today this is a commonplace in most

ofhuman geography, though it has been

developed in ways that have moved far from

Giddens’ own formulations, but there are

nonetheless affinities between time–space

distanciation and concepts of time__space

compressionandtime__space convergence.

There are also two significant differences.

(1) ‘Time–space distanciation’ draws atten-

tion to the capacity for social life to extend

overtimeas well as space in ways that are

not limited to the contemplation of a

time–space convergence

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_T Final Proof page 759 31.3.2009 9:40pm Compositor Name: ARaju

TIME–SPACE DISTANCIATIONTIME–SPACE DISTANCIATION