The Sociology of Space: Materiality, Social Structures, and Action (Cultural Sociology) by Martina Löw

Author:Martina Löw [Löw, Martina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US
Published: 2016-09-08T23:00:00+00:00

5.1 The Bodies of the Constitution of Space

In Josef Tal’s description it is the arranged “bodies” that constitute spaces, among others, alleys, stone blocks, Wailing Wall, and foundation. If we spontaneously imagine a room, we think of doors, walls, windows, shelves, tables, and so on, and spaces emerge from their arrangement. Common to all of these “bodies” is that they are “products of present and above all of past material and symbolic action” (Kreckel 1992, 77), in short, they are social goods. Social goods can be differentiated, as Reinhard Kreckel demonstrates, into primarily material and primarily symbolic goods. Primarily material goods are, for example, tables, chairs, and houses, primarily symbolic goods, by contrast, are, for example, songs, values, and regulations. The designation “primarily” indicates that social goods are never only material or symbolic, but rather exhibit both components, though according to the action being performed, one component will come more strongly to the fore. The activity of arranging in the sense of placing entails that primarily material goods and not primarily symbolic goods are meant. Hence, goods are arranged in accordance with their property as material goods, but these arrangements can only be understood when the symbolic properties of social goods are deciphered. In this work, I accordingly use the concept of “social goods” in the primarily material sense, but as a rule use the more general formulation “social goods” in order to emphasize the symbolic aspect that is also implicated. This is of significance especially when symbols are placed. In vehicle traffic, to cite one example, symbols can only be arranged because they have materiality, but they are only arranged in order to have symbolic force. Social goods are an essential “building block” of spaces. Accordingly, the first conclusion to be drawn is that spaces can be determined as a relational arrangement of social goods.

But people, too, in Tal’s account of the contemporary space of the Wailing Wall, the tourists and visitors are also integrated into the constitution of spaces. I have already pointed out that discotheques become spaces differently according to whether dancing people are present or they are simply empty halls. Another example for the inclusion of people in the constitution of space is the space experienced on arriving at a celebration as a newcomer. This space is also formed by the arrangements of the room, the buffet, the seating, and so on, but the arrangements of the people and groups of people seen on entering are equally formative of space.

The arrangement of two people with respect to each other is equally constitutive of space, namely as a function of their social relationship. People who are socially close to each other leave less space between each other than do social strangers. The boundaries of this space become very clear when one of the people in conversation transgresses them. People are positioned by the actions of other people, but they also actively position themselves. Other living beings, especially animals, are distinguished from social goods inasmuch as they do not always let people position them, but they also do not make conscious decisions as people do.

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