Martina Löw

The Constitution of Space The Structuration of Spaces Through the Simultaneity of Effect and Perception

It has become an academic self-evidence that space can only inadequately be conceptualized as a material or earth-bound base for social processes. This could commend a theoretical view of space as the outcome of action, which brings both social production practices and bodily deployment into focus. The action-theoretical perspective allows the constitution of space to be understood as taking place in perception. Not only are things alone perceived but also the relations between objects. This article develops a space-theoretical concept according to which space is constituted through acts as the outcome of synthesis and positioning practices. This opens up a theoretical perspective defining atmospheres as an external effect, instantiated in perception, of social goods and human beings in their situated spatial order/ing. Exclusion and inclusion are accordingly comprehended in terms of perception of the attunement of places. With reference to Anthony Giddens, this article discusses how space can be understood as a duality of structural ordering and action elements.

The Social Construction of Space and Gender

Over the past 10 years two concepts of central significance in the social sciences have come up for rediscussion: ‘space’ and ‘gender’. Today the two concepts are seen as relational, as a production process based on relation and demarcation. Gender and space alike are a provisional result of an – invariably temporal – process of attribution and arrangement that both forms and reproduces structures. This article takes a microsociological look at the construction of the local, seeking to trace the genderization of spaces. For this purpose, it discusses the organization of perceptions, in particular of glances and corresponding body technologies. Referring to the example of beach life, the article shows that the genderization of perception (including a culture of the glance) leads, in the sense of an embodiment of social order, to a practice of localization that reproduces the structural principles of society (including gender). In other words, gender may be seen as inscribed, via body practices, in the production of spaces.

The City as Experiential Space: The Production of Shared Meaning

Cities obviously differ from each other. Sociologically, this difference becomessignificant when your aim is to ascertain the influence of local factors in a globalizingworld or to understand processes of societal differentiation. To do so, scholars in theareas of urban and regional sociology, community research and local policy can turnto a number of theoretical and empirical studies on cities, municipalities, or, lessspecifically, the local setting as societally formative units that resist global influences. Inthis article I continue to ask how cities socialize in a way that allows shared experienceto emerge in communities. Grounded in the sociology of knowledge shaped by Germanthinkers such as Max Weber, Alfred Schutz, Karl Mannheim, Peter L. Berger and ThomasLuckmann, my aim is to illustrate that specific stocks of knowledge based on habitualizedexperience arise in every city. Intrinsic logic captures the hidden structures of cities aslocally well-established, operative processes of sense-making along with their physical,material manifestations.

The Constitution of Space

Space is introduced here as a relational arrangement of social goods and living beings at places. Space emerges in the interplay of action and structure, through the processes of spacing and acts of synthesis. Spacing describes the placing of human beings, social goods, and cultural signs for the purpose of forming spatial arrangements. The act of synthesis describes the ability to perceive, imagine, and remember the spatial placing of human beings and social goods as coherent and reliable. The reproduction of institutionalized spaces occurs through repetition in everyday routine. Space is interwoven with cultural notions of class and gender. The chapter concludes with reflections on how space and place are associated and with a discussion of methodological consequences.

The intrinsic logic of cities: towards a new theory on urbanism

This article introduces the reader to the current debate in Germany on ‘the intrinsic logic of cities’ (Eigenlogik von Städten). Proceeding on the assumption that the city is a genuinely distinct form of sociation, an interdisciplinary group of researches has been investigating the possibilities for analysing cities as specific symbolic sub-worlds that provoke action in a typical manner through implicit meaning ascription. The theoretically grounded concept of intrinsic logic (Eigenlogik) allows collective and lasting action patterns to be examined, which – in keeping with cultural codes and meaning horizons – render social reproduction in cities comprehensible. Basic theoretical assumptions from the sociology of knowledge and culture are applied to urban studies. Empirical studies on the German cities of Darmstadt, Rostock, and Bremerhaven show how the multitude of urban practices can be reduced to basic common meaning relations.

Stadt- und Raumsoziologie

Mit der Etablierung der Soziologie im beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert geht unmittelbar auch die Grundungsphase der Stadt- und Raumsoziologie einher: Jeder Versuch, die moderne Gesellschaft zu verstehen, setzt am Prozess der Urbanisierung an. Mit der industriellen Revolution kommt es nicht nur zur grundlegenden Neustrukturierung der Arbeit, sondern es folgen den Fabrikgrundungen im 19. Jahrhundert Strome von Menschen an die Orte der industriellen Fertigung. Die Konsequenz ist ein explosionsartiges Anwachsen der Bevolkerung in den Stadten sowie Neugrundungen von Stadten. Die Bedingungen der Existenz sind fortan an die Stadt geknupft.

Raum — eine vernachlässigte Dimension erziehungswissenschaftlicher und sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung und Theoriebildung

In sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschungen wird in den letzten Jahren viel uber „Verzeitlichung“ (Berger 1996) sozialer Prozesse diskutiert. Dahinter verbirgt sich haufig die Annahme, Raum werde abstrakt, verliere seine Bedeutung und lose sich auf. Wir nehmen diese Diagnosen und Analysen zum Ausgangspunkt, um Veranderungen in den Raumbezugen aufzuspuren. Wenn Raum wie Zeit ein „Konstruktionsmittel fur gesellschaftliche Wirklichkeit” (Mollenhauer 1981, 68) darstellt, dann ist wenig plausibel, das dieses einfach obsolet wird. Vielmehr scheinen sich dahinter Umdenkprozesse und veranderte Handlungsweisen zu verbergen, deren Rekonstruktion Ruckschlusse auf gesellschaftliche Veranderungen zulast. Wir gehen also von der Grundannahme aus, das soziale Prozesse nach wie vor nicht nur verzeitlicht sondern auch verraumlicht sind und fragten nach dem „wie“ der Ausgestaltung und nach dem Wandel dieser Prozesse.

O spatial turn: para uma sociologia do espaço

The aim of this article is to lend plausibility to the sociological concept of space as a relational disposition of beings and goods. Since globalization processes also interfere in peoples ways of experiencing space, Sociology has been forced to rethink its conceptualizations. In methodological terms, I juxtapose two contrary positions: materialist theorems that set out from spatial structure, and practice-oriented approaches that set out from action. Citing Anthony Giddenss theory of structuration, I conclude by proposing a synthesis of these two approaches. This allows us to develop a theory of space that neither attributes it with essentialist forces, nor reduces it to a mere sequence of actions.

Städte als sich unterscheidende Erfahrungsräume

Es ist offensichtlich, dass Stadte sich unterscheiden. Soziologisch wird dieser Differenz insbesondere dann Bedeutung beigemessen, wenn es entweder darum geht, in einer sich globalisierenden Welt den Einfluss des Lokalen zu bestimmen oder aber, wenn die Ausdifferenzierung der Gesellschaft verstanden werden will. In der Tradition der Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie, der Gemeindeforschung wie der lokalen Politikforschung liegt eine Reihe von theoretischen und empirischen Arbeiten vor, welche Stadte, Kommunen oder unspezifischer das Lokale als sozial pragende, sich globalen Einflussen widersetzende Einheiten untersuchen und im Stadtevergleich differente Praktiken und Strukturen analysieren. Selten wird dabei Stadt zum Gegenstand. Vielmehr richtet sich das Erkenntnisinteresse entweder auf „Gesellschaft“ oder auf ein verallgemeinertes „Lokales“. Selbst dann, wenn die Stadt als Gemeinde untersucht wird, dann gilt doch zugleich, dass die Suche sich auf verallgemeinerbares soziales Leben richtet, nur nebensachlich ist, wie diese Stadt im Unterschied zu jener Stadt Sinn ergibt.

Introduction: An invitation to spatial sociology:

As an invitation to spatial sociology, this article introduces key concepts and contexts to situate the articles in this monograph issue of Current Sociology. Spatial sociology is presented here as broad in scope and usefulness, but specific as a relational approach to space. As both a category of analysis and a lens through which to address sociological research questions, the gains of relational spatial research are shown in this monograph issue through articles exploring bodies, borders, units and mobilities. Outlining some of the history of relational thinking and space, clarifying some misconceptions about spatial theory, and developing a heuristic of the uses of spatial sociology, this article’s main aim is to invite specialists and non-specialists alike to spatial sociology.