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inrural areas or small towns (Saunders,
1986).
Castells refined his approach to collective
consumption in his influentialThe city and
the grassroots(1983). In it, he argued that the
increasing role of the state in collective con-
sumption, as part of efforts to resolve the con-
tradictions ofcapitalism, did not solve those
contradictions but, instead, led to an increas-
ingly contentious and political consumptive
sphere (Castells, 1983; Saunders, 1986). The
result is collective activism: urban social
movementsorganized against or as a chal-
lenge to the state over its management of and
provisions for collective consumption.
Pinch (1989) argued that, with the state
posited as the provider of goods and services
for collective consumption, the concept is too
narrow, since many collective goods can be
privately provided. Indeed, with increasingly
neo-liberal states, collective consumption
seems an outdated concept. The problem and
question of the reproduction of labour – such
as how to provide for childcare orhealthser-
vices – however, remains salient (Pinch, 1989).
Contemporary scholars concerned with these
issues focus less on the state and more on its
role as one element inpublic__private partner-
ships, and the responses in and effects on vari-
ous communities (seecommunity). dgmSuggested reading
Castells (1983); Herbert (2005).collinearity A statistical problem associated
with thegeneral linear model, especially
multipleregressionanalysis. If two or more
of the independent variables are substantially
correlated, the resulting regression coefficients
will provide unreliable statements of the true
relationships and be difficult to interpret.
Statistical tests can identify the extent and
impact of collinearity in an analysis. rjcolonialism An enduring relationship of
domination and mode of dispossession, usu-
ally (or at least initially) between an indigen-
ous (or enslaved) majority and a minority of
interlopers (colonizers), who are convinced of
their own superiority, pursue their own inter-
ests, and exercisepowerthrough a mixture of
coercion, persuasion, conflict and collabor-
ation (cf. Osterhammel, 1997, pp. 14–20).
The term both denotes this relationship and
serves as an interpretation of it – customarily
one in which the experiences of colonizers
and the colonized are at odds. Derived from
the Latin word ‘colonia’ (estate, distantsettlement), and typically promulgated within
the framework of anempire, ‘colonialism’ was
first used as a term of disapprobation in
eighteenth-century debates about the morality
ofslavery, and has since been conceptualized
as a distinctly Western modality of power that
has been closely connected to the evolution of
capitalism,modernityandeurocentrism.(1) Concept and imagery. Colonialism is com-
monly viewed as the chief variant and conse-
quence ofimperialism: the tangible means by
which disparate parts of the world became
subordinated to the drives and dictates of
a separate and distant imperial centre (metro-
pole or mother country), and struggles over
territory, resources, markets and national
prestige became displaced overseas
(cf.world-systemstheory). The term ‘colon-
ization’ denotes the array of expansionist pro-
jects –exploration,war, geopolitical rivalry,
military conquest and occupation, com-
merce,migration, settlement, state formation
and cultural representation – from which par-
ticular colonialisms arise.
A common – and not inaccurate – image of
colonialism is of astate-centred system of
power characterized by brute exploitation, as-
tonishing cultural arrogance and racism,
which reached its heyday in the early twentieth
century, when European colonial empires
spanned theglobe(the British Empire cover-
ing 20 per cent of the world’s land surface),
and colonial rule (then justified as a ‘civilizing
mission’) seemed secure to its protagonists, in
spite of widespread anti-colonial resistance.
Colonialism has also been viewed as symp-
tomatic of an epistemological malaise at the
heart of Westernmodernity– a propensity to
monopolize and dictate understanding of what
counts as right, normal and true, and deni-
grate and quash other ways of knowing and
living. Yet it is more than just a will to exercise
dominant control, or a proprietary project that
constructs the world as thewest’s bequest –
although it is surely both of these things. Nor
has it simply been a hierarchical and diffusion-
ist process, solidified in a core–periphery
relationship, which spawned what Frantz
Fanon (1963 [1961], pp. 37–8) described as
‘a world cut in two’ and a colonial world ‘div-
ided into compartments’ – with the colonized
enjoined to emulate the West. Colonialism has
also been characterized by subversion and,
some argue, by inherent flux and contradic-
tion, ambivalence andhybridity. Not feeling
at home in empire was a visceral experience
for the colonizer the world over.Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_C Final Proof page 94 31.3.2009 9:45pmCOLLINEARITY