Marxism in Geography

             MARXISM IN GEOGRAPHY.
             Geography over the last century has progressed through a series of radical changes. Before the mid-20th century the approach was idiographic. This concept is based on exploration and the study of "individuals" (lecture 4 16.10.02). By the mid-20th century the Earth had been mapped and explored so there was need for an advance in geography from idiographic approaches to the harder science of nomothetic approaches. This is where research is taken out to develop laws and patterns to identify geographical circumstances. .
             This shift from idiographic approaches to nomothetic approaches was known as the quantitative revolution. This gave arise to positivist geography, "the belief that an understanding of phenomena is solely grounded on sense data; what cannot be tested empirically cannot be regarded as proven."(xrefer.com). By the late 20th century many Geographers believed that the positivist approach to Geography was too basic so there was greater need for development on the discipline. The whole concept behind this was towards the end of the 20th century geographers were opening there minds to even greater possibilities than nomothtic concepts. There were two major directions that the study of Geography took. One of the approaches to Geography after the reaction against positivism was a humanistic approach to geography. However the main concept that is brought to issue in this research is the Marxist approach to geography. In this concept note ideas surrounding Marxism will be addressed hopefully providing knowledge and understanding for this discipline.
             Marxism is based upon several important factors. The main concept is that social change is based upon production, "responsible for the configuration of specific landscapes" (Johnston 2000). Production is where people use resources to provide for the wants of society. This production needs order, "slave and owner; capitalist and wage earner" (lecture 5 17.