Cite as:
Larner W, Heron R L, 2002, "The spaces and subjects of a globalising economy: a situated exploration of method" Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 20(6) 753 – 774
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The spaces and subjects of a globalising economy: a situated exploration of method

Wendy Larner, Richard Le Heron

Received 14 March 2002; in revised form 20 May 2002

Abstract. In this paper we aspire to develop a situated method in order to interrogate the spaces and subjects of the globalising economy. In our brief review of the social science literatures on economic globalisation, we identify a promising intellectual convergence around the theme of imaginaries. We develop an argument that global imaginaries involve both discourses and practices that are, in turn, constitutive of new spaces and subjects. We identify the particular significance of calculative practices such as benchmarking and allied techniques in constituting global imaginaries in the New Zealand context. We then demonstrate how our method might inform a case study of the globalising retail-banking sector by revealing multiple spaces and subjects. In analysing the emergence of new economic spaces and subjectivities in this way, our aim is to give situated content to the concept of global imaginaries and to make visible the constitutive power of governing practices.

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