Social Geography

Introducing the debates that inform current social geographic research and theory and interrogating the historical development of social geography, Social Geography: A Critical Introduction explores how urban and rural spaces are organized in ways that construct and maintain social inequality.

• Puts into context the assumptions of various strains of social geographic thought as they have developed historically
• Assists students in addressing key social geographic questions and methodologies
• Provides a showcase for cutting edge work in the field
• Is written in an accessible and lively style, setting out a wide breadth of social geographic research

List of Figures vii

List of Tables viii

List of Boxes ix

List of Abbreviations xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Cover Image xv

Introduction 1

Part I Historicizing Social Geography: From Theory to Methodology 9

1 Social Geography? What’s That? 11

2 Social Geography in Three Acts and an Epilogue 29

3 Thinking Methodologically 63

Part II Social Geographies across the Life Course 95

4 Social Geography and the Geographies of Health 97

5 Communities and Organizations 125

6 Social Activism/Social Movements/Social Justice 154

Part III Social Geographies through the Life Course 183

7 On the Geographies of Children and Young People 185

8 Social Geographies of the “Mid-Life”? 211

9 Ageing and the “New” Social Geographies of Older People 238

Part IV Conclusions 265

10 Epilogue v. 2.0 267

11 Rethinking the Social Geographies of Difference and Inequality 275

References 282

Index 311

"By not taking the well-trodden route of segmenting discussions of social geographies of gender, race, age, sex and so on, Del Casino is breaking the mould. He is offering something far superior ... [and] very accessible and student friendly." (Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 2012)

"The Social Geography contribution to Wiley-Blackwell's Critical Introductions to Geography series is a thoroughly up-to-date examination of the field, considering difference and inequality through the history of the discipline before making use of an innovative life-course approach. Del Casino has a fluid and engaging style of writing, incorporating research from a wide selection of subfields in social geography, while also drawing connections and illustrating contrasts." (Area, 2011)

Vincent J. Del Casino Jr is Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Geography, California State University, Long Beach. He is Book Review Editor of the journal Social and Cultural Geography and has published numerous articles and co-edited the book Mapping Tourism (with Stephen Hanna) (2003). The study of inequalities is the cornerstone of social geographic research. Social Geography explores how urban and rural spaces are organized in ways that construct and maintain social inequality.

Social geographies of difference are introduced with an emphasis on critical human geographic inquiry. These stem from feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, and poststructuralist concerns, with a key focus on how differences become fixed, naturalized parts of everyday experience. The book cuts across various approaches to see how new subjectivities emerge over time. A global perspective is maintained throughout, drawing on experiences, theories, and ideas from the global north and global south.

Expanding on the debates that inform current social geographic research and theory and interrogating the historical development of social geography, this introductory text provides an analytic framework for theorizing difference in its myriad forms.