Martin Purvis

Hearing Places, Making Spaces: Sonorous Geographies, Ephemeral Rhythms, and the Blackburn Warehouse Parties

In this paper we provide a consideration of sound and space. Much of the early literature on this topic, we argue, failed to conceptualise sound adequately. More recent literature has begun to explore more carefully the nature of sound and the aural sensing of the environment in its social, political, economic, and cultural contexts. Here we contribute to this exploration not solely by offering a theoretical consideration of sound but also by providing a detailed analysis of the ways in which one particular place, over a particular period of time, became involved in a new set of relations centred on sound. The place in question is Blackburn in Lancashire, England, where, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, ‘warehouse parties’ revolving around ‘acid house’ music and the drug Ecstasy (‘E’) had a major impact on the town, in all manner of ways. By offering an empirical study as well as a more theoretical discussion on the relations between sound and space, we hope to demonstrate the significance of these relations to themes that have traditionally been regarded as central to geographical enquiry.

The development of co-operative retailing in England and Wales, 1851–1901: a geographical study

Abstract Between 1851 and 1901 the scale of co-operative retailing in England and Wales increased markedly, with a significant surge of foundations c1860. Success was not, however, geographically uniform. The degree to which societies were concentrated in south-east Lancashire and the West Riding declined, but co-operation remained strongest in parts of northern industrial England and the eastern midlands. Especial weakness in London epitomized difficulties experienced by co-operatives in the largest cities. Weakness was not necessarily a reflection of a lack of early efforts to establish societies—these were more numerous and widespread than previously acknowledged. Awareness of co-operative ideas spread widely and quickly, but they were often difficult to put into effect and some societies collapsed rapidly. This partly arose from inadequate understanding of the practicalities of retail trading. It also reflected differing local circumstances affecting the relative collective power and identity of workers and the employers and private retailers who opposed or competed with co-operation. Differences in spheres such as the adequacy of private retail provision, the occupational diversity of the workforce, the level and manner of wage payments, community and residential mobility mesh together with forces related to information diffusion to begin to explain the pattern of local variation in co-operative success underlying bold regional contrasts in its strength. This range of influences reflects the complicated nature of co-operation as both an exercise in working-class collectivism and a commercial operation.

Global atmospheric change and the UK refrigeration industry: redefining problems and contesting solutions

Abstract The paper relates the ‘global’ to the ‘local’ through examination of the impacts of recent concerns regarding global atmospheric change (stratospheric ozone depletion and climate change) upon thinking and practices within sections of the British refrigeration industry. Complementing political studies of the effects of international agreements to curb the production and emission of gases implicated in atmospheric change, attention is paid to the attitudes and understandings of individual managers and owners responsible for decision-making within the industry. Information derived from the trade press and interviews with managers reveals important areas of uncertainty and dispute. This has implications for the ecological modernisation thesis, which views commercial innovation as a means to secure effective technical solutions to environmental problems. Currently, within refrigeration, no single technology unambiguously satisfies the full range of performance and environmental criteria. Not only are the attributes of particular technologies debated, but the environmental criteria on which performance is judged are also disputed, reflecting different constructions of the relative importance of ozone depletion, direct global warming impact, energy efficiency and indirect warming impact. Yet individual businesses do not, and cannot, have a rational and environmentally informed basis on which to judge the trade-offs which they are forced to make.

Between late-lasting empire and late-developing nation-state: a Triestine perspective on city–state relations

This paper adopts the case of Trieste to critique ideas that urban authority is always and inevitably surrendered to the state, arguing that the relationship between economic and political change may be more complex than is sometimes acknowledged. Triestes origins as a multi-ethnic trading community were not a consequence of the absence of state authority, so much as Habsburg calculation of the potential economic advantages of a policy of toleration. Equally, the subsequent erosion of Triestes cosmopolitan character cannot be understood simply as the triumph of a nationalising Italian state. Trieste thus prompts a call for greater appreciation of variety in the character and identity of European cities, paying attention to the potential distinctiveness of port cities, cosmopolitan trading centres and border cities.

Performing wartime memories: ceremony as contest at the Risiera di San Sabba death camp, Trieste

The paper examines contest over one of Triestes most emotive sites of memory, the former Nazi death camp at the Risiera di San Sabba. Attention is paid to the Risiera as a site for ceremonial recollection of World War Two, and to the enmeshing of the local civic calendar of events within wider currents of academic and political revisionism affecting the upper Adriatic. The paper complements existing studies of former Nazi camps as memorial sites through attention to a distinctive geographical and political context, and by exploring the Risiera as an increasingly problematic site of performance.

Dialectics, Difference, and the Geographies of Consumption

In the current beginnings of the mapping of the consumer society there is an evident tension between political-economic and poststructuralist accounts of consumption. It has been suggested that a philosophy of difference does nothing more than mimic a capitalist ideology of choice; that it represents a levelling of philosophy to the vulgar status of consumerism. The counterposition asserts a lack of tolerance to difference inherent in the rationalism of Marxism, which ultimately adheres to production as its central, stabilizing, metaphysical concept. In examining such ideas we seek to ground judgmental positions with respect to the political status of consumption (and of production) in notions of collectivity and action. To this end we provide a brief discussion of the history of consumer cooperation as a political force. More generally, by elucidating the political potentialities of different philosophical approaches, which present themselves as opposites, we hope to interrupt—interminably and retroactively—the development of a geography of the consumer society which is simply additive to existing geographies of the productive society.

The Effect of Supersonic Transports on the Global Environment: A Debate Revisited

Initial moves to develop a new generation of commercial supersonic transports (SSTs) to succeed Concorde are already under way. Aircraft manufacturers promise a plane that will withstand both economic and environmental scrutiny. Yet, the crash of an Air France Concorde at Paris in July 2000 has caused further doubts about the viability of SSTs. This study revisits the previous debate surrounding Concorde to explore the potential for current initiatives to overcome the public’s anxiety of further environmental degradation. This article seeks, therefore, to examine the role that environmental issues and campaign groups played in the development of the first generation of SSTs, concentrating on the influence of global environmental arguments on political decision making. Debate surrounding the global environmental impact of SSTs foreshadows later attention to human impact at the planetary scale. It provides the first illustration of the often complex links between attempted protection of the global environment and political and public perceptions of national vested interests.

Direction and discretion: the roles of centre and branch in the interwar management of Marks and Spencer

The successful expansion of multiple retailing in interwar Britain is often seen to rest, in part, on the inculcation of efficient and uniform working practices throughout a companys branch network. Major multiple retailers often placed considerable stress on codifying the standards expected of store managers and their staff; on creating systems of branch supervision and inspection by staff directly responsible to head office; and on the submission of frequent and detailed returns outlining the operational and financial performance of individual stores. In practice, however, this did not always lead to the degree of operational centralisation and uniformity that is sometimes assumed. Evidence from the Marks and Spencer Archive reveals not only the limitations of local compliance with officially sanctioned policies and processes, but also an expectation that managers would exercise positive discretion in implementing standards in a locally appropriate fashion. The article thus sheds new light on the role of the multiple store manager – hitherto a somewhat neglected figure – in the retail evolution of the interwar years.

Fragmenting uncertainties: Some British business responses to stratospheric ozone depletion

Abstract Businesses face growing environmental pressures for modification of processes and practice. In some cases environmental uncertainties thus compound more traditional commercial concerns regarding the financial viability of business. This paper examines such various interconnected and fragmenting uncertainties through a study of firms related to debate about chemicals implicated in stratospheric ozone depletion. The analysis draws upon Interviews with key personnel In selected companies to consider perceptions of uncertainty (environmental, commercial and regulatory) faced by particular businesses, and their responses to such circumstances. Some businesses claimed difficulties in developing a strategic response to uncertain science. There were also indications of the manner in which attempted regulatory and technical resolution of environmental problems may create new difficulties for business.

Building Co-Operation: A Business History of the Co-Operative Group, 1863-2013

This is a welcome volume, adding significantly to our understanding of the British co-operative movement, which has attracted growing academic interest in recent years. The specific importance of t...