RELEVANT ECONOMIC-GEOGRAPHY - TEACHING THE GEOGRAPHY OF CONSUMPTION

Economic geography should not be taught in isolation from the political and the social if contemporary issues are to be understood. Agents are embedded in broader structures and their decisions are affected by stimuli and constraints which are not purely economic, at whatever scale they operate. This argument is developed with reference to teaching the geography of consumption. Health and retailing are chosen to illustrate consumption because of their contrasting delivery chains and patient/customer expectations, and because of their divergent/convergent trends between the UK and LDC experience. These enhance awareness of the economic, and its relationship to the social and the political, and of value judgements, which is necessary for critical understanding.