ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses an important macro-theory of the changes taking place in contemporary capitalism. To employ the language of a long-established Germanic analytical tradition, the 1960s probably marked the high water mark of 'Organised Capitalism' while the 1980s signify the onset of 'Disorganised Capitalism'. The chapter refers to the concept of 'technological paradigm', a complex of ideological, social and political as well as technological factors which drives the system forward functionally and spatially in a reasonably orderly fashion. It then introduces the concepts of 'social and spatial paradigms', a set of equally ideological, social and political constructs which complement the emergent technological paradigm with reference to assisting its general spatial conditions of production to come to fruition. It is the combination of the ascendency of new technological, social and spatial paradigms as conditioned by the law of value and the competitive ethic which drives the spatial development process under capitalism forward in a relatively orderly fashion.
