Uneven Development, Geography of

Abstract

Uneven development is the process by which the social relations of capitalist societies are translated into spatial forms. It is a systematic rather than arbitrary process, the hallmark of the geography of capitalism. Uneven development results from the resolution of competing tendencies toward the differentiation of levels and conditions of development, rooted in the division of labor, and the equalization of conditions and levels of development impelled by the circulation of capital. These social and economic contradictions are resolved geographically as different places crystallize as discrete territorial entities, localities, cities, regions, nation states, the global economic system itself—resulting in the production of a nested hierarchy of geographical scales. Historically, there is therefore a tendency for development to move around, at different scales, in a seesaw pattern whereby development of an area is often followed by its underdevelopment, which in turn establishes the conditions for redevelopment. This article reviews different theories of uneven development, sources of the process, and its recent history.