ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to contribute a world-historical perspective to the discussions surrounding “spatial transformations.” Drawing on past empirical investigations of the richest individuals in historical capitalism, we advance three arguments about spatial transformations in the capitalist world-system. First, examining spatial transformations of social relations requires a unit of analysis larger than the nation-state, no matter the time period we seek to understand. Second, over time, spatial transformations have interacted with what Joseph Schumpeter calls “creative destruction,” yielding spatial innovations. Finally, the “local” and the “global” are not merely distinct spheres that are now in more complex interaction than in the past, but rather interacting, longue durée geographies of social and political contestation, cooperation, and identity-formation that, precisely as a consequence of their very interactions, have constantly undergone change.