ABSTRACT
It is unclear where economic geography fits into the recent discussions about agency and structure in hum an geography. Certainly there is no shortage o f clues, hints and possibilities (Gregory 1981, 1982). But when it comes dow n to it, there are few actual proposals. O ne exception is the recent w ork o f Sayer (1982a). In a brief discussion, Sayer (1982a, pp .80-82) recognizes that although economic geography has a theory o f agency and structure, it has nothing in between; nothing to connect agency and structure. Thus economic geography has a voluntarist account o f hum an behaviour (human agency) represented by the geographi cally free-wheeling entrepreneur w ho can locate anywhere, and a structural account where actors become the dupes o f the geographical structure o f the economy. But as Sayer recognizes, neither the voluntarist nor the structural account is satisfactory on its own. W hat is required is som ehow to bridge the gap between agency and structure. For Sayer, at least, that bridge is realist philosophy.
