Spatial sociology

The sociology of space is a branch of sociology that deals with the spatial relationship of society . The creation of spaces through social action is analyzed, as is the dependence of action on spatial structures.

history

For a long time the category of space played a subordinate role in sociological theory formation (cf. Schroer 2006). It was not until the 1990s that the realization gained acceptance that certain social changes cannot be adequately explained without paying greater attention to the spatial component of life. This change of perspective is called a “ topological turn ”. With the help of the concept of space, organizational forms of coexistence come into focus. The focus is on the difference between places and their mutual influences. This applies equally to the microspaces of everyday life as well as to national or global macrospaces.

Theoretical starting point for the increasing social science occupation with space were mainly approaches from French and English-speaking sociology , philosophy and human geography . Worth mentioning here are Michel Foucault's essay on “Other Spaces” (1967), in which the author proclaims the “Age of Space”, and Henri Lefebvre's influential work “La production de l'espace” (1974). The latter formed the basis for the Marxist theory of space, which was further developed by David Harvey , Manuel Castells and Edward Soja , among others . The Marxist theories of space, which assume a structural, i.e. capitalist or global, determinism of spaces and a growing homogenization of space, are opposed to action-theoretical conceptions that emphasize the importance of physical placement and the perception of spaces as a habitual but subjective construction achievement highlight. One example of this is Martina Löw's (2001) spatial theory . In addition, approaches that follow the post-colonialism discourse have received increased attention in recent years . Doreen Massey (1999a / b) and Helmuth Berking (1998) , for example, also emphasize the heterogeneity of local contexts and the location-based nature of our knowledge of the world, also in contrast to (neo) Marxist spatial concepts .

Absolutistic and relativistic spatial concepts

Based on the historical controversy about spatial thinking in philosophy and physics , the distinction between “absolutistic” and “relativistic” models of thought has also established itself in social science literature. Absolutistic models of thought design space as a neutral vessel or territory and are known as container or container space concepts. Space as a vessel or territory can either be empty (and still exist even if it is empty) or be filled with people, things, spheres or properties (which does not change it). It is crucial that space and matter are thought of as independent of one another. Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (1986) includes Claudius Ptolemy , Nicolaus Copernicus , Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton as part of this tradition. Applied to sociology , this dualism of space and bodies includes the assumption that space exists independently of action. That means, in the logic of the container space, there are moving actions in or on a (background) space that is essentially immobile. Opposed to this concept is the “relativistic” tradition, in which space is derived from the arrangement of moving bodies. From a relativistical point of view, space is solely the result of relationships between bodies, a point of view that in physics, for example, Nikolaus von Kues , Robert Bellarmin , Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Ernst Mach take . Sociologically speaking, this means that space is created process-wise in action. Relativistic models give the relationship or action aspect a primary role, but neglect the structuring elements of existing spatial orders.

Duality of space

Martina Löw developed the idea of a “relational” spatial model with the aim of overcoming the division of spatial theoretical thinking into absolutist and relativist standpoints . The relational approach focuses on the “(arrangements)” (Löw 2001) of living beings and social goods and examines how space is created in processes of perception, memory or imagination and how it manifests itself as a social structure. The notation (an) order combines “order” (structural dimension, rooms are ordered) and “arrangement” (action dimension, rooms are the result of a process of arranging). In terms of social theory, it follows on from the theory of structuring by Anthony Giddens (1988), whose concept of the “duality of structure” Martina Löw expands to a “duality of space” in terms of spatial sociology. The basic idea is that individuals act as social actors (and thereby create spaces), but that their actions depend on economic, legal, social, cultural and ultimately spatial structures. So spaces are the result of actions. At the same time, spaces structure actions, that is, spaces can both limit and enable actions.

With regard to the constitution of space, Löw analytically distinguishes between two processes that are usually mutually dependent: “spacing” and “synthesis”. Spacing describes the act of placing or being placed social goods and people in places. According to Löw, an order created through placement only becomes effective as a space when the elements of this order are actively linked by people through processes of perception, imagination or memory. Löw calls this synthesis power. This concept was tested empirically in the studies by Lars Meier (who researched spatial constitution processes in everyday life for German financial managers in London and Singapore, cf.Meier 2009), Cedric Janowicz (who carried out an ethnographic- spatial-sociological study of the food supply in the Ghanaian city of Accra , cf. Janowicz 2008) and Silke Steets (who dealt with spatial constitution processes in the Leipzig creative industries , see Steets 2008).

Marxist approaches

The most important initiator of the Marxist theory of space was Henri Lefebvre , who developed his findings on the basis of an analysis of the Fordist-capitalist space of modernity. Lefebvre imagines the social production of space as a dialectical interaction of three factors. Space is created by

the "spatial practice", thus space as it is reproduced in everyday life,
the “representation of space”, that is, space as it is cognitively developed, and
through the “spaces of representation”, by which Lefebvre means complex symbolizations and spaces of imagination.

The result of this space production - according to Lefebvre's diagnosis for the 1970s - is a space marked by alienation in non-reflective everyday life, which is dominated by mathematical-abstract spatial concepts and reproduced in spatial practice. Lefebvre sees a line of flight from the alienated spatiality in the spaces of representation, that is, the ideas of non-alienated, mythical, premodern or artistic spatial visions.

The Marxist theory of space experiences a decisive further development through the work of David Harvey , who is interested in the effects of the transition from Fordism to "flexible accumulation" on the experience of space and time (1989). He shows how various innovations at the economic and technological level break the crisis-inducing rigidity of the Fordist system and thus increase the rate of turnover of capital. This leads to a general acceleration of economic cycles. Harvey sees the result in what is known as “time-space compression”. While on the level of time the sense of the long-term, for the future, of continuity is lost, on the level of space the relationship between proximity and distance is becoming more and more difficult to determine.

Postcolonial Space Theories

Space theories, which are inspired by the post-colonialism discourse , focus on the heterogeneity of spaces. Doreen Massey writes that in relation to a country in Africa, for example, it would not make sense to speak of a “developing country”, since spatial differences would be interpreted as differences in time (Massey 1999b). In this logic, a country in Africa does not appear as different, but merely as an early version of a country of the “developed” world, which it deciphered as “Eurocentrism”. Taking up this, Helmuth Berking criticizes theories that claim an increasing homogenization of the world through processes of globalization as "globocentrism". He contrasts these with the difference and the importance of local knowledge for the production of (different and specific) places. According to him, local contexts form a kind of framework or filter through which global processes and globally circulating images and symbols are appropriated and thus acquire meaning. The film character Conan the Barbarian is a different figure in the right-wing extremist circles of the Federal Republic than in the black ghettos of Chicago's Southside, just as McDonald’s means something different in Moscow than in Paris.

literature

Wilma Ruth Albrecht : City or Settlement? On the concept of space in social science studies on urban settlement units and on its relevance to planning. In: Austrian Journal for Sociology (ÖZS), 8 (1983) 3, pp. 57-78.
Helmuth Berking: ›Global Flows and Local Cultures‹. About the reconfiguration of social spaces in the globalization process . In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie , Volume 8, No. 3, 1998, pp. 381–392.
Lars Clausen , Volker von Borries, Karl Simons: Settlement Sociology. Housing, community, environment . Kösel, Munich 1978.
Jörg Dünne , Stephan Günzel : Space Theory. Basic texts from philosophy and cultural studies . Frankfurt a. M. 2006
Michel Foucault : Other spaces. In: Martin Wentz (Ed.): City spaces . Frankfurt a. M./New York 1991, pp. 65-72.
Anthony Giddens : The Constitution of Society. Basics of a theory of structuring , Frankfurt a. M./New York 1988.
David Harvey: The Condition of Postmodernity . Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 1989
Ulf Jacob: “It should be good on earth” or The Garden Worlds of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau as social spatial structures . In: "Kultursoziologie". 7th vol., H. 2, 1998, ISSN 0941-343X , pp. 55-79.
Cedric Janowicz: On the social ecology of urban spaces: African cities in the field of tension between demographic development and food supply , Bielefeld 2008
Henri Lefebvre : The Production of Space . Oxford / Cambridge 1991.
Martina Löw : Spatial Sociology , Frankfurt a. M. 2001.
Löw, Martina / Steets, Silke / Stoetzer, Sergej (2007), introduction to urban and spatial sociology , Opladen.
Doreen Massey : Power-Geometries and the Politics of Space-Time , Heidelberg 1999.
Doreen Massey: Spaces of Politics. In: Massey, Doreen / Allen, John / Sarre, Philip (eds.): Human Geography Today . Cambridge / Oxford / Malden 1999, pp. 279-294.
Meier, Lars (2009), Fitting into Place - The Everyday Life of German Finance Managers in London and Singapore , Bielefeld.
Markus Schroer : Spaces, Places, Boundaries. On the way to a sociology of space , Frankfurt a. M. 2006.
Steets, Silke (2008), “We are the city!” Cultural networks and the constitution of urban spaces in Leipzig , Frankfurt a. M./New York.
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker : Structure of the physics . Munich / Vienna 1986
Ulrich Deinet: “Spacing”, linking, movement, appropriation of spaces - as an educational concept for socio-spatial youth work. In: Ulrich Deinet, Christian Reutlinger (ed.): “Appropriation” as an educational concept of social pedagogy , Wiesbaden 2004, pp. 175–189.

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