David Harvey

Professor and geographer

• Born: October 31, 1935

Education: Cambridge University

Significance: David Harvey is one of the most prominent geographers in the world. Harvey—who worked as a professor, researcher, and author—is also important because of his contributions to the theory of neoliberalism, which is a political movement that includes some liberal ideas and support for free market capitalism. Harvey believes that progressives and liberals should work toward ending capitalism, as he believes it is harmful for most of the country.

Background

David Harvey was born in Kent, England, in 1935. He grew up during and immediately following World War II (1939–1945), which shaped his ideas about the world. He was interested in geography and maps as a young man, and he wanted to leave home and see the world. He attended college at St. Johns College in Cambridge, United Kingdom. He received his undergraduate, and then he earned his doctoral degree in 1961. Harvey's dissertation, which focused on Kent in the 1800s, demonstrated that he was interested in new ideas about geography.

He took his first position at the University of Bristol, a research university in the United Kingdom. He continued his geography research at the university, and he was particularly interested in the more scientific aspects of the field. His interest in the nature of geography and its relationship to science and to theoretical thought led Harvey to publish the 1969 book Explanation in Geography. The book explains that, to Harvey, geography is related to space, time, and space-time. That same year, Harvey began working at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. He left Johns Hopkins in 1982 to work at Oxford University for about six years. He then returned to Johns Hopkins, where he worked until 2001. He then moved to a position at City University of New York (CUNY). Harvey has taught and lectured around the world.

Life's Work

As a young academic, Harvey had a keen interest in the nature of geography and its relationship to science. However, events in his life and the larger society eventually shifted the focus of his work. Harvey lived in Baltimore, Maryland, starting in 1969 when he began working at Johns Hopkins University. The city was very divided along racial and class lines, and Harvey's experiences there helped shift the focus of his research. The 1960s and 1970s were also a time when people in the United States and other parts of the world were involved in social justice movements. Between Harvey's experiences in Baltimore and the climate of the United States at the time, the focus of Harvey's work began to shift. He became much more interested in how human geography could apply to the real world and less interested in its relationship with science and theory. In 1973, he published the book Social Justice and the City, in which he discusses urban poverty and its causes. Harvey himself became involved in the civil rights movement and other social justice issues of the time.

His 1982 work, The Limits to Capital, theorizes about the role of real estate speculation in capitalism, and it warns that this type of speculation would eventually harm all capitalistic markets. This book was inspired by a study Harvey did of Karl Marx's critics of capitalism. (Marx was a German-born philosopher whose beliefs are often championed by those on the ideological far left.) Harvey studied Marx's books and notes, and complied his ideas about capitalism. In 1989, while at Oxford University, Harvey published The Condition of Postmodernity. The book was a critique of postmodernism, which Harvey believed was the necessary result of capitalism in the West. Harvey believed that the social, cultural, and economic changes brought about by postmodernism were, in part, originated because of the shifts in investments in fixed assets (e.g., factories) to investments in fluid capital (e.g., shares).

Harvey also helped develop the theory of neoliberalism during his career. Harvey believed that neoliberalism was a political movement that started in response to progressive efforts made throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Harvey pointed out that during the 1960s and 1970s trade unions and social progressives fought to improve occupational health and safety, environmental regulations, and consumer protections. Harvey believed the fight for these rights led to a backlash from corporations and other wealthy people in the United States to react. He believed that neoliberalism was born out of this backlash. Harvey believed that neoliberalism was started mostly by corporations and the wealthy, and it slowly had many important effects on politics and society. He thought that neoliberalism also affected politics, as money became a more important influence in politics by the end of the twentieth century and into the beginning of the twenty-first century. For example, the US Supreme Court decided that monetary contributions to political campaigns were a form of free speech that could not be tightly regulated. Harvey, who believed that neoliberalism was a harmful political project, was more progressive than neoliberals. He believed that true liberals and progressives should aim to remove capitalism altogether. Although he was against neoliberalism and believed it was harmful, his work focused more on ways to overcome capitalism altogether rather than overcoming only neoliberalism. In 2005, he published the book A Brief History of Neoliberalism, which provides an outline of the rise of the political movement and states some of Harvey's objections to it.

In 2020, he published The Anti-Capitalist Chronicles. He also hosted a podcast, David Harvey's Anti-Capitalist Chronicles. The first five seasons were coproduced by Democracy@Work, while later seasons were produced with Politics In Motion. He also published his twenty-fifth book, A Companion to Marx's Grundrisse, in 2023. This was another element in what he saw as a lengthy Marx project.

Impact

Throughout his career, Harvey has become known as a progressive and leftist academic. He is one of the best-known geographers in the world. His work helped shape thought in a number of areas. One of his most important academic influences has been his work to help trace and define neoliberalism, which has become a political target for progressives who believe traditional capitalism is bad for society. Harvey himself shares the view that capitalism is harmful to society, and he has championed many ideas of Karl Marx's ideas throughout his career. Harvey also had an important influence by denouncing those in power and critiquing national policy. Harvey was against the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq. He spoke out against both. He was also involved in civil rights and was always a supporter of labor unions and workers' rights.

Personal Life

Harvey is married.

Bibliography

Archer, Kevin. "Harvey, David (1935–)." Encyclopedia of Geography. Edited by Barney Warf, SAGE Publications, 2010, pp. 1404–06.

"David Harvey." GoodReads, www.goodreads.com/author/show/61592.David‗Harvey. Accessed 13 Mar. 2017.

"David Harvey." Oxford Reference, www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095923415. Accessed 13 Mar. 2017.

"David Harvey and the Political Economics of Space." Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences. Edited by Byron Kaldis, SAGE Publications, 2013.

Harvey, David. "Neoliberalism Is a Political Project." Jacobin, 23 July 2016, www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/david-harvey-neoliberalism-capitalism-labor-crisis-resistance/. Accessed 13 Mar. 2017.

Hatherley, Owen. "The Marx Whisperer." New Statesman, 28 June 2023, www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2023/06/karl-marx-whisperer-intellectual. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.

"Interview with David Harvey." The White Review, July 2012, www.thewhitereview.org/interviews/interview-with-david-harvey/. Accessed 13 Mar. 2017.

"Reading Marx's Capital with David Harvey." David Harvey Website, 2024, davidharvey.org/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2024.

Woodward, K., and J.P. Jones III. "Harvey, D." International Encyclopedia of Human Geography. Edited by Rob Kitchin and Nigel Thrift, Elsevier, 2009.