Geographies of Social Difference

Geographies of social difference
WESTIES, SURFIES AND BOGANS:
SPACE AND STIGMA IN THE MEDIA
DR DALLAS ROGERS
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND PSYCHOLOGY

LECTURE OVERVIEW
1. Textbook reading:
• • Post-structuralist thought Analysing geographies of difference

2. Stigma, the media and place attachment:
• • • Territorial stigma Place attachment Place defending

3. Case studies:
• • • Housos The Shire The Bra Boys

[e-mail]

EXPLANATIONS CONCERNED WITH DIFFERENCE AND DIVERSITY

POSTMODERN GEOGRAPHIES:

Introducing Human Geography text (pages 92-104) [e-mail]

1

27/08/12

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM: ALL CATEGORIES ARE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS
Premise 1: • Group identity, indeed all categories, is socially constructed; • There are no ‘naturally given’ categories; • Notions of social class, race, gender, ethnicity, place and social group emerge from human thought and action.
(Text, page 96-97)

[e-mail]

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM: SOCIAL CATEGORIES SHOULD BE DECONSTRUCTED
Premise 2: • We should deconstruct categories such as race, gender and social class. • This includes the deconstruction of identities; • To expose the dominant ideas that underlie such constructions and the people that benefit from them.
(Text, page 97-98)

[e-mail]

THE MEDIA: DOMINANT IDEAS AND CONSTRUCTING IDENTITIES
• The media includes and excludes different codes of behaviour by rehearsing dominant collective identities. • Individuals often enact the different social or cultural performances they see in the media. • Certain geographical locations – near a beach or a public housing estate – help build dominant place identities.
(Text, page 99-100)

[e-mail]

2

27/08/12

CHALLENGING DOMINANT IDEAS AND CONSTRUCTED IDENTITIES
• Performances of identities in a public space that are deemed ‘incorrect’ can be ‘punished’ by the dominant group. • Punishment can