The paper was originally delivered as the Progress in Human Geography Lecture at the Royal Geographical Society—in conjunction with The Institute of British Geographers—annual conference in January 2001. The high level of citation is most likely due to the general issue it addresses—the need to bring together previously disparate parts of the discipline, i.e., cultural and economic approaches to human geography. This is a prominent theme across the social sciences at present where older divisions (between society and nature, production and consumption, culture and economy) are being transcended.

The paper presents a synthesis of recent work on commodity culture contrasting different theoretical approaches (commodity chains, circuits and networks). It provides some original empirical evidence about the commodification of cultural difference in the context of (British-South Asian) transnational enterprise.

  Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

The paper argues that "commercial culture" (in the advertising, fashion, and food industries) represents a key domain where economic and cultural forces are brought together. While the cultural and social sciences have often treated commerce with disdain, as vulgar and materialistic and motivated entirely by the pursuit of profit, this paper argues that contemporary commerce is increasingly involved in the commodification of cultural differences. Looking at how food manufacturers or fashion designers approach these issues, and how different audiences consume such products, offers an important lens through which to view their impact on contemporary social and economic life.

The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) "Transnational Communities" program and offered a unique opportunity to bring together my interests in the geography of consumption and the cultural politics of difference. The project involved collaboration with Phil Crang and Claire Dwyer, with research assistance from Suman Prinjha and Nicola Thomas—all of whom are acknowledged for their contributions to this work.

Peter Jackson
Professor of Human Geography
University of Sheffield
Sheffield, UK