The Social Construction of the Ocean

by Philip E. Steinberg

The worlds' oceans have been extremely important in the development and interaction of societies throughout history. This unique book uses the tools of political geography and international relations to examine the ways in which nations and peoples have viewed and used the oceans. Most social scientists have looked on the seas as a resource, but Steinberg sees them as a space defined by society, arguing that political and economic forces have shaped the governance and representation of the sea as much as they have the land.

Genres: Geography, Politics, History

258 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 2001

Reviews

[Essie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, as the title suggests, is a history of (specifically Euro-American) social constructions of the Ocean. Using the constructions of "non-modern" societies of Rome (the Mediterranean), the pre-modern Indian Ocean traders, and pre-modern Micronesia as reference points, Steinberg primarily focuses on the mercantilist era onward. While the historical discussion is fascinating and creates a solid theoretical framework for the rest of the book, his most detailed discussions are of the industrial capitalist constructions (specifically late 19th-mid 20th centuries) and the post-modern capitalist (1980s-present) constructions. In this last section, it's very obvious that this book was published in 2001 as since then laws and international conflicts have changed the nature of how we perceive and use ocean-space, but that does not diminish the usefulness of this study.

[James Rooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work is written using a lot of academic jargon, and is accordingly sometimes difficult to follow. I found myself rereading many paragraphs.

The title says social construction of the ocean, and I was hoping that we would get a glimpse of literary or artistic representations of the sea, or it's place in human society.

We do get some of that here, but this is primarily focused on legal and economic matters. The author presents different paradigms of viewing and utilising the ocean taken from various civilisations at various times (e.g. Rome and the Mediterranean), as well as discussing Selden and Grotius.

But the core of the text deals with how the ocean is exploited by society, and the rules and conventions that states have created to govern this.

The gist is that the ocean is not just a space to cross, but is a space in itself

I found this book had a lot of interesting and important information, but it was not quite what I had expected it to be.