Over the past decade, the city of Cambridge has been used increasingly by academics and the media as an exemplar of the role that entrepreneurial high-technology development can play in local and national economic growth. Politically, this symbolism has found a ready resonance with the Thatcher government's vision of the ‘new Britain’. In this paper the reality and rhetoric behind this use of Cambridge is critically examined. First, the politics and polemics of locality under Thatcherism are highlighted. Second, the dominant account of the much-celebrated ‘Cambridge phenomenon’ is outlined to reveal its ideological leitmotivs of entrepreneurship, high-technology, postindustrialism, the small firm, and the union of academic science and business. Third, it is shown how these rhetorical constructions of a ‘boomtown’ locality are in reality weakened by a number of tensions within the ‘phenomenon’ itself. Moreover, it is then shown that there are important silences in the dominant view of Cambridge, certain ‘other sides’ to the city that portray a rather different set of meanings, both about Cambridge as a success story and about high-technology development as the basis of economic prosperity. These other sides of Cambridge provide a much more complex and, in some important respects, a very different expression of the socioeconomic renewal championed by Thatcherism.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenJ, 1988, ‘The geographies of service’, in Uneven Redevelopment: Cities and Regions in Transition Eds MasseyDAllenJ (Hodder and Stoughton, London) pp 124–141
BassettK, 1990, “Labour in the Sunbelt: the politics of local economic development strategy in an ‘M4-corridor town’”Political Geography Quarterly9 (1) 67–83
BourdieuP, 1984Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (Routledge and Kegan Paul, Andover, Hants)
6.
BowlbyS, 1990, “Technical change and the gender division of labour: the new information technology industries in Britain”Geoforum21 (1) 67–84
7.
BrehenyMHartDHallP, 1986Eastern Promise? Development Prospects for the M11 Corridor (Spatial and Economic Associates, University of Reading, Reading)
8.
BrownR, 1982, “Work histories, career strategies and the class structure”, in Social Class and the Division of Labour Eds GiddensAMacKenzieG (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 119–136
9.
Business Week, 1990, “High rents a threat to Cambridge companies”, 17 May
10.
Cambridge Evening News, 1980, “Joseph visits city”, 6 December
11.
Cambridge Evening News, 1987a, “Despair as city jobs go begging”, 21 September
12.
Cambridge Evening News, 1987b, “Firms reach crisis point”, 9 November
13.
CampbellB, 1984Wigan Pier Revisited: Poverty and Politics in the Eighties (Virago, London)
14.
CBI, 1988, “Companies and the housing market”CBI News March; Confederation of British Industry, Centre Point, New Oxford Street, London WC1
15.
CCC1950The Holford Report
16.
CCC1971County Structure Plan Review
17.
CCC1985aCommunity Welfare and Development Plan
18.
CCC1985bTourism and Employment in Cambridge
19.
CCC1986Employment Development Strategy: High Tech and Conventional Manufacturing Industry
20.
CCC1987aEmployment Development Strategy: The Traded Service Sector in the Cambridge Area
21.
CCC1987bEmployment Development Strategy: The Public Sector in the Cambridge Area
22.
CCC1988Hi-tech Businesses in Cambridgeshire
23.
CCC1989Jobs in Cambridgeshire, 1988/9Cambridge County Council, Shire Hall, Cambridge CB3 0AP
24.
ChampionTGreenA, 1988, “Local prosperity and the north–south divide: winners and losers in 1980s Britain”ReportEmployment Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL
25.
CliffordJ, 1986, “On ethnographic allegory”, in Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography Eds CliffordJMarcusGE (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA) pp 98–121
26.
CockburnC, 1985Machinery of Dominance: Women, Men and Technical Know-how (Pluto Press, London)
27.
Company, 1989, “Is there really a north–south divide?”, (May) page 17
28.
CookeP, 1986, “The changing urban and regional system in the United Kingdom”Regional Studies20243–251
29.
CookeP, 1987, “Research policy and review 19. Britain's new spatial paradigm: technology, locality and society in transition”Environment and Planning A191289–1301
Financial Times, 1988b, “The Cambridge effect”, 18 November, page 19
42.
GiddensA, 1984The Constitution of Society (Polity Press, Cambridge)
43.
GoffmanE, 1959The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Doubleday, New York)
44.
GreenCSegalN, 1989, “The Cambridge phenomenon: a fresh look”The Anglia Reportissue 2, 1–3
45.
HallSJacquesM (Eds), 1983The Politics of Thatcherism (Lawrence and Wishart, London)
46.
HamnettC, 1989, “The owner-occupied housing market in Britain: a north–south divide?”, in The North–South Divide: Regional Change in Britain in the 1980s Eds LewisJTownsendAR (Paul Chapman, London) pp 97–113
47.
HarveyD, 1987, “Three myths in search of a reality in urban studies”Environment and Planning D: Society and Space5367–376
48.
HerriotW, 1989a, “Cambridge high technology, 1: four years reviewed”M11 Corridor Reviewissue 12, 15–17
49.
HerriotW, 1989b, “Cambridge high technology, 2: current problems”M11 Corridor Reviewissue 13, 17–19
50.
HerriotW, 1989c, “Cambridge high technology, 3: the way ahead”M11 Corridor Reviewissue 14, 11–15
51.
HochschildAR, 1983The Managed Heart: Commercialisation of Human Feeling (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA)
52.
Housing Act, 1980Public General Acts—Elizabeth II, 1980 chapter 51 (HMSO, London)
53.
JessopBBonnettKBromleySLingT, 1988Thatcherism: A Tale of Two Nations (Polity Press, Cambridge)
54.
KeebleDE, 1988, “High-technology industry and local environments in the United Kingdom”, in High-Technology Industry and Innovative Environments: The European Experience Eds AydalotPKeebleDE (Routledge and Kegan Paul, Andover, Hants) pp 65–98
55.
KeebleDE, 1989, “High-technology industry and regional development in Britain: the case of the Cambridge phenomenon”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy7153–172
56.
KeebleDEGouldA, 1985, “Entrepreneurship and manufacturing firm formation in rural regions: the East Anglian case”, in The Industrialisation of the Countryside Eds HealeyMJIlbergBW (Geo Books, Norwich) pp 197–220
57.
KeithM, 1988, “Racial conflict and the ‘no-go areas’ of London”, in Qualitative Methods in Human Geography Eds EylesJSmithDM (Polity Press, Cambridge) pp 39–48
MarshallG, 1986, “The workplace culture of a licensed restaurant”Theory, Culture and Society3 (1) 33–47
63.
MartinRL, 1986, “In what sense a jobs boom? Employment recovery, government policy and the regions”Regional Studies20463–472
64.
MartinRL, 1987, “Mrs Thatcher's Britain: a tale of two nations”Environment and Planning A19571–574
65.
MartinRL, 1988, “The political economy of Britain's north–south divide”, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers13389–418; reprinted in LewisJTownsendA R (Eds), 1989The North–South Divide: Regional Change in Britain in the 1980s (Paul Chapman, London) pp 20–60
66.
MartinRL, 1989, “Regional imbalance as consequence and constraint in national economic renewal”, in The Restructuring of the UK Economy Ed. GreenF (Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead, Herts) pp 80–97
67.
MasseyD, 1988, “Uneven development: social change and spatial divisions of labour”, in Uneven Redevelopment: Cities and Regions in Transition Eds MasseyDAllenJ (Hodder and Stoughton, London) pp 250–276
68.
MooreBSpiresR, 1983, “The experience of the Cambridge Science Park”, OECD Workshop on Research, Technology and Regional Policy, Paris, 22–27 October, copy available from B Moore, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
69.
MooreBSpiresR, 1986, “The role of high technology complexes and science parks in regional development”, paper presented at the OECD Seminar on Science Parks and Technology Complexes in Relation to Regional Development, Venice, 3 June; copy available from B Moore, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
70.
MurrayR, 1988Crowding Out: Boom and Crisis in the South East (South East Economic Development Strategy, Stevenage)
71.
NBS, 1987House Prices: The North–South Divide (Nationwide Building Society, 4-18 Regent Street, Swindon)
72.
NoyesA, 1988, “Property investment in the corridor”M11 Corridor Review1 (2), 17–19
73.
OPCS, 1981Census of Population 1981 Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London)
74.
PetersTJWatermanRH, 1982In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Businesses (Harper and Row, New York)
75.
RyderR, 1986, “East Anglia”, in Britain: A View from Westminster Ed. CritchleyJ (Blandford Press, Poole) pp 149–161
76.
SaxenianA, 1987, “The Cheshire Cat's grin: innovation, regional development and the Cambridge case”, mimeograph, Department of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
77.
SayerAMorganK, 1986, “The electronics industry and regional development in Britain”, in Technological Change, Industrial Restructuring and Regional Development Eds AminAGoddardJB (Allen and Unwin, London) pp 157–187
78.
SEEDS, 1987South–South Divide (South East Economic Development Strategy, Stevenage)
79.
SegalN, 1985, “The university as a source of technology ventures: implications of the Cambridge phenomenon”, paper presented at the Conference on Venture Capital: The International Outlook, Geneva, 12–13 November; copy available from N Segal, Segal Quince and Wicksteed, Mount Pleasant House, Mount Pleasant, Cambridge
SmithN, 1987, “Dangers of the empirical turn: the CURS initiative”Antipode1959–68
82.
SQP, 1985The Cambridge Phenomenon: The Growth of High Technology in a University Town (Segal Quince and Partners, Mount Pleasant House, Mount Pleasant, Cambridge)
83.
SQW, 1986Strategic Planning Implications of High Technology Growth in the Cambridge Area (Segal Quince and Wicksteed, Mount Pleasant House, Mount Pleasant, Cambridge)
84.
Sunday Times, 1990, “High-tech Cambridge feels the blues”, 13 May, page 10
85.
ThriftN, 1989, “Images of social change”, in The Changing Social Structure Eds HamnettCMcDowellLSarreP (Sage, London) pp 12–42
86.
University of Cambridge, 1969, “Relationship between the University and science based industry”Cambridge University Reporter (special edition) October, The Mott Committee, The Old Schools, University of Cambridge, Cambridge
87.
VallelyP, 1987, “Microchips in a cloistered city”The Times 16 May, page 30
88.
WhyteWF, 1948Human Relations in the Restaurant Industry (McGraw-Hill, New York)
89.
WrayI, 1986, “Boom town denied the chance to grow”The Times 4 April, page 18
