David Bell

Bio: David Bell is an academic researcher from University of Leeds. The author has contributed to research in topics: Tourism & Queer. The author has an hindex of 52, co-authored 214 publications receiving 14873 citations. Previous affiliations of David Bell include University of California, Los Angeles & Staffordshire University.

Neighbourhood arts spaces in place: cultural infrastructure and participation on the outskirts of the creative city.

Abstract: Set in the context of tensions between ‘community development’ and ‘creative cities’ policy agendas, which often implicitly privilege large-scale city-centre cultural assets, this paper discusses c...

Geek Myths: Technologies, Masculinities, Globalizations

Abstract: I’m pulling this chapter together around the time of two events-one global (at least in its coverage), the other distinctly local-that resonate with the paradox of the geek. The fi rst is the death (and strange afterlife) of Steve Jobs, the founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., usually fi gured as an archetypal geek. Jobs’s death has led to endless media discussion of his life and style, his views and his impact on many people’s lives. Like Steve Wozniak and Bill Gates, Jobs appears in most geek histories as personifying a key moment in the tale: the moment when geeks got rich (Feineman 2005; Varma 2007). The local event that also resonates with the key themes in my chapter was a social event organized by the student society in the geography school where I work. The theme of the party? “Dress Like a Geek”. I overheard some of my students discussing how they’d do this, what geek attire looks like-and they were all able to boil “geek” down to a handful of sartorial signifi ers. So Jobs’s obituaries celebrated what Jon Katz (2000) calls “the geek ascension”, yet a class of geography students can still comfortably and comically parody geekiness on a night out. There’s the geek paradox, the oxymoron captured in the tag “geek chic”.

Mapping Desire:Geog Sexuality

Abstract: This is the first book to explore sexualities from a geographical perspective. The nature of place and notions of space are of increasing centrality to cultural and social theory. Mapping Desire presents the rich and diverse world of contemporary sexuality, exploring how the heterosexual body has been appropriated and resisted on the individual, community and city scales. The geographies presented here range across Europe, America, Australasia, Africa, the Pacific and the imaginary, cutting across city and country and analysing the positions of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and heterosexuals. The contributors ring different interests and approaches to bear on theoretical and empirical material from a wide range of sources. The book is divided into four sections: cartographies/identities; sexualised spaces: global/local; sexualised spaces: local/global; sites of resistance. Each section is separately introduced. Beyond the bibliography, an annotated guide to further reading is also provided to help the reader map their own way through the literature.

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Abstract: The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Economics of Information

Abstract: The author systematically examines one of the important issues of information — establishing the market price. He introduces the concept of «search» — where a buyer wanting to get a better price, is forced to question sellers. The article deals with various aspects of finding the necessary information.

Boundary-Work and the Demarcation of Science from Non-Science: Strains and Interests in Professional Ideologies of Scientists

Abstract: The demarcation of science from other intellectual activities-long an analytic problem for philosophers and sociologists-is here examined as a practical problem for scientists. Construction of a boundary between science and varieties of non-science is useful for scientists' pursuit of professional goals: acquisition of intellectual authority and career opportunities; denial of these resources to "pseudoscientists"; and protection of the autonomy of scientific research from political interference. "Boundary-work" describes an ideological style found in scientists' attempts to create a public image for science by contrasting it favorably to non-scientific intellectual or technical activities. Alternative sets of characteristics available for ideological attribution to science reflect ambivalences or strains within the institution: science can be made to look empirical or theoretical, pure or applied. However, selection of one or another description depends on which characteristics best achieve the demarcation in a way that justifies scientists' claims to authority or resources. Thus, "science" is no single thing: its boundaries are drawn and redrawn inflexible, historically changing and sometimes ambiguous ways.