Microcircuits of Capital: Electronics Industry and Regional Development (Human Geography)

The electronics industry has aroused great interest as one of the few growth industries in the economic recession, but like other industries before it, its development has been highly uneven. This work analyzes this process of uneven development at international, national and regional scales. It shows how developments in particular regions and countries both shape, and are shaped by, their wider economic context. Only by looking at this reciprocal process can the impact of the industry be assessed. Electronics is also examined as the bearer of new forms of social organization and management practices with production - social changes which some consider to be of revolutionary importance. Among other areas this book deals clearly and informatively with the global structure of the electronics industry; social innovations in production in various areas in Britain; and the relationship between government and industry in this field. The work is aimed at third-year undergraduates and post-graduate geographers, interested in urban and regional studies, and the political economy of geography and industrial sociology.