Professor Mark Harvey
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Email
mharvey@essex.ac.uk -
Location
5.404, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
Mark Harvey has a first degree in history from Oxford, followed by a PhD in Sociology (on historico-critical epistemology) from London School of Economics. He held a Susan Isaacs post-doctoral research fellowship at the Institute of Genetic Epistemology, working with Jean Piaget at the University of Geneva (1968-70). He was a Lecturer in Sociology and Psychology at Brunel University (1971-4) and a Simon Industrial Fellow at the University of Manchester (1993-4). For the intervening 17 years, he worked as a building labourer, returning to academia in 1993. Now retired, Mark is Emeritus Professor at the Sociology Department University of Essex. He joined the department as a Research Professor in September 2007, and established the Centre for Research in Economic Sociology and Innovation. For the previous decade he had been at the ESRC Centre for Research in Innovation and Competition (CRIC) at the University of Manchester, as a Senior Research Fellow and Professorial Research Fellow. He undertook pioneering research on the tomato as a socio-economic and cultural phenomenon, followed by studies on genomics and bioinformatics. He now is Honorary Professor at the Sustainable Consumption Institute with whom he undertook an ESRC project with a focus on renewable transport energy and biofuels in the USA, Europe and Brazil. He then contributed to the ESRC Sustainable Practices Research Group, developing his neo-Polanyian approach to economy, society and nature, with a comparative and historical study of drinking water. His ESRC Professorial Fellowship research project (2013-2016) concerned the ‘food-energy-climate change trilemma’, comparing Brazil, China, India and Europe. These long term research interests have all contributed to his most recent book: Climate Emergency. How societies create the crisis, Emerald.
Qualifications
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BA Oxford,
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PhD London,
Research and professional activities
Research interests
aim to develop the ‘new economic sociology’ using a neo-Polanyian framework of ‘instituted economic processes’ (IEP). An historical and comparative research agenda has been key here to an understanding of ‘varieties of capitalism’
the emergent bio-economy
food provisioning, supermarkets, and the sociology of food consumption
biotechnology and genomics
economics of knowledge
'rights over resources' within 'welfare states'
Current research
Research
Mark completed an ESRC project on The transition to a sustainable bio-economy: innovation and expectations. This project, which ran from October 2007 to 2010, compared different trajectories of innovation in Brazil, Europe and the USA, using the IEP approach. Faced by global climate change, depleting petro-chemical resources and energy insecurity, a major industrial transformation in energy and materials is at an early stage of transition. This transition poses challenges to the governance of the economy unique in the history of industrial societies. From 2010 to 2013, he has been engaged in the ESRC funded Sustainable Practices Research Group, and its programme of research on low carbon housing, heating and cooling, changing food habits and water use in the home. In this programme,he has been running a comparative and historical project on drinking and domestic water provision in Europe (the UK, Germany, and Italy), Delhi, Taiwan and Mexico City. This work has addressed key economic sociology questions on public and private appropriation, the qualities of water, and the trajectories of water provision within different environmental contexts. Researching water has been a useful way of analysing sociogenic sustainability crises as emergent and varied consequences of these different trajectories. Visit the SPRG website at http://www.sprg.ac.uk/ He has recently been awarded an ESRC Professorial Fellowship “The food-energy-climate change trilemma: developing a neo-Polanyian analysis” The world is facing three unprecedented challenges: anthropogenic climate change, the depletion of finite energy and material resources, and a growing population with increasing and changing demand for food. These three problems are deeply interconnected in ‘the food-energy-climate change trilemma’. Researching the different trilemma trajectories as they develop in Brazil, Europe, the USA and China provides a way of analysing the varied interactions between socio-economies, their environmental contexts, and their command over finite resources such as land, water, and fossil energy. This project will run from January 2014 to December 2016, with a Senior Research Officer and an ESRC Doctoral Studentship. The over-arching theme integrating his work across these research projects has been the development of a neo-Polanyian ‘instituted economic process’ approach to understanding of capitalist economic institutional variation and evolution as multi-modal, embracing the state, market and non-market dynamics. The new development of this approach is to understand the interactions between political economies, natural environments, and finite resources as a major dynamic of historical variation, including the sociogenesis of sustainability crises.
Teaching and supervision
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Sociology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 10/8/2022
Degree subject: Sociology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 29/11/2018
Degree subject: Sociology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 20/12/2017
Degree subject: Sociological Research
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 16/5/2017
Degree subject: Sociology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 17/5/2016
Degree subject: Sociology
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 17/6/2014
Degree type: Occasional Postgraduate Study
Awarded date: 28/2/2013
Publications
Journal articles (30)
Harvey, M., (2019). Slavery, Indenture and the Development of British Industrial Capitalism. History Workshop Journal. 88 (1), 66-88
Harvey, M., (2016). For a New West: Essays, 1919–1958. By Karl Polanyi. Edited by Giorgio Resta and Mariavittorio Catanzariti. Malden, Mass.: Polity Press, 2014. Pp. xvi+258. $69.95 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).. American Journal of Sociology. 121 (4), 1326-1327
Behling, F. and Harvey, M., (2015). The evolution of false self-employment in the British construction industry: a neo-Polanyian account of labour market formation. Work, Employment and Society. 29 (6), 969-988
Harvey, M., (2014). The Food-Energy-Climate Change Trilemma: Toward a Socio-Economic Analysis. Theory, Culture & Society. 31 (5), 155-182
Harvey, M., (2014). Comparing comparing: exercises in stretching ? concepts. Anthropology of food (S10)
Harvey, M. and Pilgrim, S., (2013). Rudderless in a Sea of Yellow: The European Political Economy Impasse for Renewable Transport Energy. New Political Economy. 18 (3), 364-390
Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2013). Capitalism: restless and unbounded? Some neo-Polanyian and Schumpeterian reflections. Economics of Innovation and New Technology. 22 (7), 666-683
Harvey, M. and Pilgrim, S., (2011). The new competition for land: Food, energy, and climate change. Food Policy. 36 (SUPPL. 1), S40-S51
Harvey, M., (2011). Book Review: Karl Polanyi. The Limits of the Market. The Sociological Review. 59 (2), 378-380
Harvey, M. and Pilgrim, S., (2011). The new competition for land: Food, energy, and climate change. Food Policy. 36 (S1), S40-S51
Frericks, P., Harvey, M. and Maier, R., (2010). The ‘paradox of the shrinking middle’: The central dilemma of European social policy. Critical Social Policy. 30 (3), 315-336
Pilgrim, S. and Harvey, M., (2010). Battles over Biofuels in Europe: NGOs and the Politics of Markets. Sociological Research Online. 15 (3), 45-60
Schofield, PN., Eppig, J., Huala, E., de Angelis, MH., Harvey, M., Davidson, D., Weaver, T., Brown, S., Smedley, D., Rosenthal, N., Schughart, K., Aidinis, V., Tocchini-Valentini, G. and Hancock, JM., (2010). Sustaining the Data and Bioresource Commons. Science. 330 (6004), 592-593
Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2010). Public or private economies of knowledge: The economics of diffusion and appropriation of bioinformatics tools. International Journal of the Commons. 4 (1), 481-506
Harvey, M., (2006). Innovation and competition in UK supermarkets. Supply Chain Management. 5 (1), 197-205
Wales, C., Harvey, M. and Warde, A., (2006). Recuperating from BSE: The shifting UK institutional basis for trust in food. Appetite. 47 (2), 187-195
Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2005). Brazilian genomics and bioinformatics: instituting new innovation pathways in a global context. Economy and Society. 34 (4), 634-658
Harvey, M. and Metcalfe, S., (2004). The ordering of change: Polanyi, Schumpeter and the nature of the market mechanism. Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines. 14 (2), 1-31
Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2004). Public-private collaborations and the race to sequence Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Nature Biotechnology. 22 (7), 807-810
Coombs, R., Harvey, M. and Tether, B., (2003). Analysing distributed processes of provision and innovation. Industrial and Corporate Change. 12 (6), 1125-1155
Ramlogan, R. and Harvey, M., (2003). Polanyian Perspectives on Instituted Economic Processes, Development and Transformation: Introduction. International Review of Sociology. 13 (2), 321-326
Green, K., Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2003). Transformations in food consumption and production systems. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning. 5 (2), 145-163
Lee, MA., Harvey, M. and Neustrom, A., (2002). Local Labor Markets and Caseload Decline in Louisiana in the 1990s*. Rural sociology. 67 (4), 556-577
Harvey, M., McMeekin, A. and Miles, I., (2002). Genomics and social science: issues and priorities. foresight. 4 (4), 13-30
McMeekin, A. and Harvey, M., (2002). The Formation of Bioinformatic Knowledge Markets: an 'economies of knowledge' approach. Revue D'Economie Industrielle. 101 (1), 47-64
Harvey, M. and Randles, S., (2002). Markets, the Organisation of Exchanges and �Instituted economic process�-An Analytical Perspective. Revue d'�conomie industrielle. 101 (1), 11-30
Harvey, M., (2000). Innovation and competition in UK supermarkets. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. 5 (1), 15-21
Harvey, M., (1999). Cultivation and Comprehension: How genetic modification irreversibly alters the human engagement with nature. Sociological Research Online. 4 (3)
Harvey, M., (1999). How the object of knowledge constrains knowledge of the object. An epistemological analysis of a social research investigation. Cambridge Journal of Economics. 23 (4), 485-501
Harvey, M., (1996). Paul T investigates. New Left Review. 217, 88-101
Books (11)
Harvey, M., (2021). Climate Emergency. Emerald Publishing Limited. 1800433336. 9781800433335
Harvey, M. and Geras, N., (2018). Inequality and democratic egalitarianism
Harvey, M., (2015). Drinking Water: A Socio-economic Analysis of Historical and Societal Variation. Routledge. 9781138816978
Harvey, M., (2010). Markets, Rules and Institutions of Exchange. Manchester University Press. 9780719076701
Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2007). Public or private economies of knowledge?: Turbulence in the biological sciences. 9781845420963
Kjærnes, U., Harvey, M. and Warde, A., (2007). Trust in Food. Palgrave Macmillan UK. 9781349547395
Harvey, M., Ramlogan, R. and Randles, S., (2007). Karl Polanyi: New Perspectives on the Place of Economy in Society. Manchester University Press. 9780719073328
Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2007). Public or Private Economies of Knowledge?. Edward Elgar Publishing. 9781845420963
Harvey, M., McMeekin, A. and Warde, A., (2004). Qualities of Food. Manchester University Press. 9780719068546
Clasquin, B., Moncel, N., Harvey, M. and Friot, B., (2004). Wage and welfare. New perspectives on Employment and Social Rights in Europe. Peter Lang. 9052012148
Harvey, M., Quilley, S. and Beynon, H., (2002). Exploring the Tomato: Transformations of Nature, Society and Economy. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 978-1843761891
Book chapters (18)
Harvey, M., (2018). Making people work for wages: Instituting the capital-labour exchange in the United Kingdom. In: Inequality and Democratic Egalitarianism. 98- 129
Harvey, M., (2018). Journeying through Marxism. In: Inequality and Democratic Egalitarianism. 1- 18
Harvey, M., (2018). Coercive capitalisms: politico-economies of slavery, indentured labour and debt peonage. In: Inequality and Democratic Egalitarianism. 130- 155
Harvey, M., (2018). A Note on Profit and Inequality. In: Inequality and Democratic Egalitarianism. 77- 97
Harvey, M. and Bharucha, ZP., (2016). Political Orientations, State Regulation and Biofuels in the Context of the Food–Energy–Climate Change Trilemma. In: Global Bioethanol. Elsevier. 63- 92. 9780128031414
Harvey, M., (2010). Introduction: putting markets in their place. In: Markets, Rules and Institutions of Exchange. Editors: Harvey, M., . Manchester University Press. 9780719076701
McMeekin, A. and Harvey, M., (2010). Making biological knowledge public and private: the multi-modality of capitalism. In: Markets, Rules and Institutions of Exchange. Editors: Harvey, M., . Manchester University Press. 9780719076701
Harvey, M. and Randles, S., (2010). the organisation of exchange and ‘instituted economic process’: an analytical framework. In: Markets, Rules and Institutions of Exchange. Editors: Harvey, M., . Manchester University Press. 9780719076701
Harvey, M. and Metcalfe, S., (2010). The ordering of change: Polanyi, Schumpeter and the nature of the market mechanism. In: Markets, Rules and Institutions of Exchange. Editors: Harvey, M., . Manchester University Press. 9780719076701
Harvey, M., (2007). The rise of supermarkets and asymmetries of economic power.. In: Supermarkets and agri-food supply chains: transformations in the production and consumption of foods. Editors: Burch, D. and Lawrence, G., . Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 51- 73. 9781781008546
Harvey, M., (2007). Instituting economic processes in society. In: Karl Polanyi: New perspectives on the place of the economy in society. Editors: Harvey, M., Ramlogan, R. and Randles, S., . Manchester University Press. 9780719073328
Harvey, M., Ramlogan, R. and Randles, S., (2007). Working with and beyond Polanyian perspectives. In: Karl Polanyi: New Perspectives on the Place of Economy in Society. Editors: Harvey, M., Ramlogan, R. and Randles, S., . Manchester University Press. 1- 12. 9780719073328
Kj�rnes, U., Warde, A. and Harvey, M., (2006). Politicising consumer trust in food: A socio-institutional explanation to variations in trust. In: Ethics and the Politics of Food: Preprints of the 6th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics. Editors: Kaiser, M. and Lien, ME., . Wageningen. 162- 166. 9789086860081
McMeekin, A., Harvey, M. and Gee, S., (2004). Emergent bioinformatics and newly distributed innovation processes. In: The Economic Dynamics of Modern Biotechnologies: European and Global Trends. Editors: Laage-Hellman, J., McKelvey, M. and Rickne, A., . Edward Elgar. 235- 261. 9781845420611
Harvey, M., (2003). The United Kingdom: Privatization, fragmentation and inflexible flexibilization in the UK construction industry. In: Building Chaos: A International Comparison of Deregulation in the Construction Industr. Editors: Bosch, G. and Philips, P., . Routledge. 188- 209. 9780415260909
Harvey, M., Summers, GF., Pickering, K. and Richards, P., (2002). The short-term impacts of welfare reform in persistently poor rural areas. In: Rural dimensions of welfare reform. Editors: Weber, BA., Duncan, GJ. and Whitener, LA., . Upjohn Institute Press. 375- 410. 9780880992404
Harvey, M., (2002). Markets, supermarkets and the macro-social shaping of demand: an instituted economic process approach. In: Innovation By Demand: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Demand and its Role in Innovation. Editors: McMeekin, A., Tomlinson, M., Green, K. and Walsh, V., . Manchester University Press. 187- 208. 9780719062674
Harvey, M., (2000). Systemic competition between high and low ‘social cost’ labour: a case study of the UK construction industry. In: The Dynamics of Wage Relations in the New Europe. Editors: Clarke, L., de Gijsel, P. and Janssen, J., . Springer. 267- 278. 978-1-4613-7002-4
Reports and Papers (4)
Harvey, M. and Geras, N., (2013). Marx's Economy and Beyond
Harvey, M., (2012). Drinking-Water and drinking water: Trajectories of Provision and Consumption in the UK, Taiwan and Delhi
Harvey, M. and McMeekin, A., (2010). Political Shaping Of Transitions To Biofuels In Europe, Brazil And The USA
Harvey, M., (2009). Instituted or Embedded? Legal, Fiscal and Economic Institutionalisation of Markets
Grants and funding
2013
The Food-Energy-Climate Change Trilemma: Developing a Neo-Polanyian Analysis
Economic & Social Research Council
2012
Social Change and Systems of Drinking Water Provision in Taiwan
The British Academy
2010
Sustainable Practices Research Group
Economic & Social Research Council
