The Quantitative Revolution

Abstract

The argument that will be made in this chapter is that the Quantitative Revolution is really a misnomer for what might better have been called a “model and systems” revolution. The chapter is divided into four parts. In the first part, Setting the Stage, the argument as to why models and systems thinking came to dominate the Quantitative Revolution is explained. What follows in the next part is a recounting of some of the best known and arguably most important examples of how modelling and systems thinking developed in human geography. The third part examines how the limitations of models and systems thinking evoked reactions that were both philosophic and methodological rejections of what the Quantitative Revolution had become. The other sub-theme that is highlighted is how changes in technology (e.g., the shift from mainframe computing to personal computing), also weakened the importance of statistical and mathematical modelling in favour of geographical information systems. In the conclusion, it is argued that the Quantitative Revolution was the starting point for a series of methodological shifts in human geography that were tied to philosophic and technological shifts that are likely to continue to shape human geography in new ways in the future.