The Dictionary of Human Geography

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they either choose to vacate (to avoid hostility)

or because they are compelled to do so (by

stigmatizing acts both symbolic and real).

Various studies conceptualize the roots of

such socio-spatial exclusion, notably Sibley’s

(1995)Geographies of exclusion, which borrows

frompsychoanalytic theoryto probe the

inherent will of ‘the Self’ to distance itself

from all that it perceives as ‘Other’ (as alien,

impure, polluting and ‘abject’). Sibley specula-

tes that such psycho-dynamics, as inculcated

in individual psyches, translate into wider

socio-spatial configurations that materialize

lines of exclusion between selves who reckon

themselves to be essentially similar (the ‘same’)

and those cast out as fundamentally ‘Other’.cp

Suggested reading

Sibley (1981, 1995).

social formation In structuralmarxism, the

specific combination of social relations obtain-

ing within a particular society at a particular

historical moment or conjuncture. The con-

cept was derived from a reading of Marx’s

Capitalundertaken in the 1960s and early

1970s by a group of French scholars associ-

ated with the Marxist philosopher Louis

Althusser. Whereas themode of production

specifies structural combinations of relations

and forces of production in general terms,

identifying the diagnosticclassrelationships

involved in the production of surplus value –

hence, for example,feudalismorcapitalism–

the concept of ‘social formation’ refers to

concrete forms of social relations at a specific

conjuncture (e.g. post-revolutionary France).

It also takes account of social relations and

forms that survive from previous conjunctures,

as well as non-class modes of social exploit-

ation and oppression (e.g.patriarchy), and

seeks to identify their modes of articulation

with what is assumed to be the central grid of

class relations. dg

social geography The sub-discipline that

examines the social contexts, social processes

and group relations that shapespace,place,

natureandlandscape. The generality of this

definition indicates both the breadth of social

geography and changing emphases through

time, across variousparadigmsand also in

different national traditions. In France, for

example, social geography has sometimes

been regarded as having the range ofhuman

geographyitself, while in Germany it was

often associated more narrowly with the land-

scape indicators school (see the continuing

series since 2003 on national social and cul-

tural geographies in the journalSocial and

Cultural Geography). Three abiding theoretical

concerns in the sub-discipline have been the

relationship between spatial pattern and social

process; the question of determinism and

human agency; and the engagement with a

range of geographicalscales.

Following the practice of human geography

itself, early work in social geography was dom-

inated by an emphasis on landscape form and

spatial pattern. Innovative voices urging that

intellectual labour should move beyond

descriptive pattern studies to explanatory pro-

cess included Wreford Watson’s seminal chap-

ter (1957), Max Sorre’s (1957) productive

engagement with French sociology, and

Emrys Jones’ impressive monograph (1960)

on the development of social areas in Belfast.

Ironically, the new paradigm ofspatial analy-

sisin the 1960s did not significantly advance

the explanatory ambitions of social geography

but, rather, reinforced the emphasis on pattern

by borrowing fromhuman ecologyto estab-

lish more rigorous quantitative descriptions

ofsegregation patterns and classifications

of social areas. While often sophisticated,

only rarely did this work move into issues of

explanation – as, for example, in Peach’s

(1996) important research onethnicityand

immigration, as he considered economic

and discriminatory explanations of segregation

and, in earlier work, the restricted social inter-

action that was associated with maps of social

segregation.

Akin to geomorphology’s transition from

form to process, social geography moved

decisively intoprocessstudies in the 1970s

with two significant developments. The first

was David Harvey’s (1973) paradigm-shaking

discovery of Marxist theory (see marxist

geography), leading to his claim thatcapit-

alism was the root cause of social–spatial

distributions, and the two-classsystem was

the fundamental expression of social groups,

a research programme that has helped to

shape a continuing and vital critical tradition

in social geography (e.g. Blunt and Wills,

2000). In contrast to such apolitical econ-

omy, the second development was ahuman-

ism that emphasized the experience and

construction of place, seeking inspiration

from a range of theoretical and philosophical

sources (Jackson and Smith, 1984; seehuma-

nistic geography). Humanism was not inc-

ompatible with some forms of Marxism, as

work inhistorical geographymade clear,

but contemporary humanistic approaches

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SOCIAL FORMATION