Spatial and Other “Fixes” of Historical Capitalism

Abstract

Capitalism is the first and only historical social system that has become truly global in scale and scope. Mapping this transformation over time is a particularly challenging task. Without some theoretical guidance in the selection of the networks to be mapped, there is a real risk of producing maps that are so confusing as to be worthless. Drawing from David Harvey’s concepts of “spatial-temporal fix,” “switching crisis,” and “accumulation bydispossession,” this article proposes a conceptual map focused specifically on the processes associated with the globalization of historical capitalism. This is not an actual map of the spatial-temporal dynamic of historical capitalism but a first step in the identification of the kind of geographic and historical information that is needed in order to produce such a map.