North – South? Pitfalls of dividing the world by words.
The phrase ‘North – South divide’—as well as variations such as ‘North – South gap’ or ‘North – South cleavage’—has become well established in public discourse and scholarly writing. The phrase, however, is highly problematic, as it is simplistic and as there is a substantial danger of misapprehendi...
| Published in: | Third World Quarterly Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 3 - 24 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Feb2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=24153020&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 24153020 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01436597 TWQ jtl: Third World Quarterly issn: 01436597 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Feb2007 vid: 28 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 24153020 10.1080/01436590601081732 ppf: 3 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 169KB tig: atl: North – South? Pitfalls of dividing the world by words. aug: au: Eckl, Julian Weber, Ralph affil: Institute for Political Science at the University of St Gallen, doctoral candidates, St Gallen, Switzerland su: Discourse analysis Terms & phrases History of linguistics Judgment (Psychology) Distinction (Philosophy) Academic discourse Language & logic Intellectual property Social reality China sug: subj: China Discourse analysis Terms & phrases History of linguistics Judgment (Psychology) Distinction (Philosophy) Academic discourse Language & logic Intellectual property Social reality ab: The phrase ‘North – South divide’—as well as variations such as ‘North – South gap’ or ‘North – South cleavage’—has become well established in public discourse and scholarly writing. The phrase, however, is highly problematic, as it is simplistic and as there is a substantial danger of misapprehending it for ‘reality’ as such. The indiscriminate usage of the phrase ‘North – South divide’ overlooks the ways in which words create and shape our understanding of the world, on which we, in turn, base our judgements and decisions. The aim of the present paper is to point out specific ways through which this linguistic distinction—as much as any other—shapes our conception of (social) reality. The paper is in two parts. In the first we will initially draw out some pitfalls that inhere in the notion of a ‘North – South divide’qua notion, and then point to other pitfalls that relate to the usage of the expression. In the second part two case studies are presented to illustrate our arguments: one of them deals with China, the other with intellectual property rights. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Third World Quarterly is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Third World Quarterly holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2007 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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