The Dictionary of Human Geography

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global periphery. Core states are those with

the highest value-added industrial manufac-

turing and service sectors, while peripheral

states are more dependent on agricultural

and raw materials exports – and, more

recently, on lower value-added manufactured

goods.world-systemstheorists identify states

that are semi-peripheral in that their exports

comprise a mix of higher and lower value-

added goods (Wallerstein, 1979, pp. 66–94).

Many core–periphery models, such as

that of Andre Gunder Frank, connect core–

periphery structures at a national scale with the

global core–periphery structure (Frank, 1967,

pp. 8220). In particular, such models have seen

primate cities in developing countries as nodal

points connecting national economies to the

global system, and as ‘suction pumps’ from

which surplus is siphoned out of peripheral

societies and into global circuits ofcapital

(Armstrong and McGee, 1985). Recent pro-

cesses ofglobalizationhave called into ques-

tion the degree of coherence of national

political economies, making the variants of

core–periphery theory that hinge on a hierarchy

of states more problematic. But the models that

emphasize crucial roles for cities in the devel-

oping world retain considerable relevance. jgl

Suggested reading

Armstrong and McGee (1985); Frank (1967);

Smith (2008 [1984]); Wallerstein (1979).

corporatization The spread of business

objectives, methods anddiscoursesinto the

non-profit and state sectors of society.

Schools and universities, hospitals, welfare

offices and so on are increasingly held to the

operating standards of private enterprise,

despite differing reasons for their existence,

resources and relationship tosociety. Talk of

‘cost centres’, ‘customers’, ‘products’, ‘mar-

kets’ and even ‘profitability’ (in relation, for

example, to university spin-offs of private

companies) grows more common. Non-

business organizations should strive for effi-

ciency and respond to changing social needs.

But the meaning of efficiency and responsive-

ness in these organizations ought perhaps to

be evaluated on different grounds than we

would apply to a corporation. esch

Suggested reading

Steck (2003).

correlation The degree of association

between two or more variables. In statistical

analyses, correlation coefficients varying

betweenþ/1.0 are measures of the good-

ness-of-fit of a relationship: a value of 1.0

indicates a perfect relationship. If values less

than 1.0 are squared, they indicate the propor-

tion of the variation in one variable than can

be accounted for statistically by the other(s): a

correlation of 0.8 indicates that 0.64 of

the variation can be accounted for. Positive

correlations indicate that as one variable

increases in value, so does the other: negative

correlations that as one increases in value,

the other decreases. In several variants of the

general linear model, notablyregression

analysis, the correlation between two variables

is denoted byrand the (multiple) correlation

among three or more variables byR. A correl-

ation coefficient is merely an indicator of

covariation among two or more variables

and is not a measure of causality, although a

high correlation may have important theoret-

ical implications. rj

cosmography The unified study of the

Earth in relation to the heavens, cosmography

arises from geocentric assumptions and a

belief in homologies between the spatial order

of terrestrial and celestial spheres. The spher-

ical geometry of celestial poles, great circles,

hemispheres and ecliptic can be projected on

to both Earth and sky and illustrated by the

armillary sphere, whose spherical lattice of the

five great circles, poles, axis and colures makes

it the symbol of cosmographic science (still to

be found on the flag of Portugal).Mathematical

cosmography had practical significance for

oceanic navigation, and early in moderneurope

cosmographers were often influential court

appointees(Fiorani,2005).Cosmographicorder

has given rise in many belief systems to ideas of

divinely ordered, cosmic harmony, reproduced

at varyingscales, including the human micro-

cosm, and to attempts to steer influences

believed to flow through the cosmos, often by

manipulating cosmographic diagrams and

images.Descriptive cosmographywas the classi-

fication and description of the contents

of the created cosmos, assumed to have an

order that reflected mathematical relations.

Incorporating both the mathematics of order

and description of contents, cosmography

eludes easy definition and courts intellectual

incoherence.

Cosmographic science peaked in early mod-

ern Europe, where cosmographies took the

form of illustrated books and maps that may

be regarded as precursors of the modern atlas.

Cosmographies became increasingly encyclo-

paedic in seeking to systematize spatially and

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_C Final Proof page 116 31.3.2009 9:45pm

CORPORATIZATION