LIBERALISM, MARXISM AND URBAN AND REGIONAL STUDIES

This paper addresses the unresolved question of the status of radical political economic theory in urban and regional studies. While 'post-m arxist' developments in the subject represent a response to feminist, post-structuralist and postmodernist critiques, the older critiques fr om liberalism have been ignored. The standpoints from which marxists c riticize capitalism are shown to be underexamined and partly incoheren t. Convergently, their explanations are also flawed as a consequence o f a systematic underestimation of the significance of the social divis ion of labour in advanced economies of all kinds, as a source of 'anar chy', division and uneven development, and this in turn invites critiq ues of capitalism which imply infeasible and undesirable standpoints. These arguments are developed further by reference to Hayek's concepts of division of knowledge, economy, catallaxy and constructivism. Exam ples of constructivist critical standpoints and flawed explanations ar e given from the literature on radical urban and regional political ec onomy. The paper concludes with some suggestions for rethinking this t heory.