DIGC202 Third Tumblr Post
The focus on globalisation and the new economy in Digc202 in week 4 provides an interesting starting point for further investigation into the archaeology of this phenomenon and its potential (and current) effects. Within class, Wilson discussed the global economy in terms of trade (of goods, services, currencies and information), labour and integration. Castell’s view of the instrumental capacity of the nation-state being undermined by globalisation is also scrutinised. While Castell makes some interesting and valid points regarding the “Transnational Core” of the global economy, and it is noted that regulation in a globalised world is becoming increasingly difficult, I think that Castell’s approaches the issue from an extremely pessimistic and bleak outlook. What Castell does discuss at great length however, is the informational aspect of the new economy, which is a sentiment echoed by Flew in “The Global Knowledge Economy”. Flew approaches the knowledge economy concept from several different angles, analysing the computing technologies that make this achievable in conjunction with the post-industrialised economy and its focus on information as a commodity. The issue of post-industrialised economies was one which I hadn’t given much thought until discussed in class, with Wilson offering the examples of Detroit and Britain as manufacturing based economies that have had to move forward when manufacturing is no longer the dominant sector of the community. In Davis’ “A Surplus of Humanity?”, the issue is examined from both a local and global perspective. An interesting point to note in Davis’ research is the notion that the future of slums will more likely (with the example of Dublin in the early 1800’s) stem from de-industrialisation rather than industrialisation.
