AIMS AND OUTCOMES OF THE QUANTITATIVE REVOLUTION IN GEOGRAPHY

The ‘Quantitative Revolution’ in geography refers to the era in the 1950s and 60s when the subject adjusted to a more scientific approach seeking objectivity in the testing of hypotheses and theories. A series of statistical and mathematical techniques and abstract models were adopted leading to a radical transformation of spirit and purpose (Burton, 1963, p151) in Anglo-American geography. As a part of this revolution the old ideographic geography based around areal differentiation and regional geography was displaced. Regional geography was heavily criticised for being too specific and incapable of contributing towards effective generalization. Both Bunge (1962) and Haggett (1965) argued that ‘one can do little with the unique except contemplate its uniqueness’. Thus, the aims of the quantitative revolution were to overcome this specificity and establish nomothetic (universal/general) model-based paradigms. However, as this essay will show, the quantitative revolution was itself as narrowly focussed and blinkered as the regional geography it replaced.

Nevertheless, it did provide greater theoretical awareness within the subject meaning that today this awareness no longer hinges on a simple ideographic-nomothetic binary. Instead, interest in the philosophy of realism and a more focussed contextual approach