"Suffered" geographic proximity and negative organized proximity effects Further research on the definition of suffered organized proximity
Proximité organisée « subie » et effets négatifs des proximités
Résumé
In 1993, six researchers founded the research group "Dynamics of proximity". Their first goal was to go beyond the consideration of space in economics as a simple residual explanatory variable (Rallet et Torre, 1995), which led them to elaborate the definition of proximity and to work on the link between proximity and space (Gilly et Torre, 2000).
The authors of the "Dynamics of proximity" group insist on the fact that proximity is essentially neutral by nature and it is the meaning attributed by actors to their action that will lead them to value and seek proximity or, on the contrary, to refrain from it (Torre, 2009). For the time being, this approach has only been implemented for geographical proximity, organised proximity is not thought out as something that cannot be sought or valued by actors. Proximity, whether geographical or organised, is seen as a facilitator of coordination, which links actors together and not what separates them, which explains the difficulties of thinking about the negative effects of proximity, or even in considering them as suffered, particularly for organised proximity.
The objective of this note is to take stock of the point in rethinking the conceptualization of organized proximity and, above all, its potential negative effects, which would lead to the definition of an organized proximity "suffered", the couterpart of suffered geographical proximity. A further research approach would consist in introducing the organized proximity experienced in dynamics models, which are currently one of the future research approaches of the "Proximity Dynamics" group (Torre et Talbot, 2018).
En 1993, six chercheurs fondent le groupe de recherche « Dynamiques de proximités » afin de pouvoir dépasser la prise en compte de l’espace en économie comme simple variable explicative résiduelle. Si la définition des formes non géographiques de la proximité donne également lieu à un vif débat, les proximités restent pensées comme ce qui rapproche les acteurs. La prise en compte de leurs effets négatifs est alors difficile.
L’objectif de cette note est de faire le point sur l’intérêt de reprendre la réflexion sur la conceptualisation de la proximité organisée et surtout sur ses effets négatifs potentiels, ce qui conduirait à définir une proximité organisée subie, pendant de la proximité géographique subie. Une piste de recherche ultérieure consisterait à introduire la proximité organisée subie dans les modèles de dynamique, qui constituent actuellement une des pistes de recherche futures du groupe « Dynamiques de proximités » (Torre et Talbot, 2018).