Society in Time and Space is an important and innovative book which offers a geographical perspective on societal change, and sets out to show how understanding the geography of such change enables us to appreciate better the basic processes involved. Robert Dodgshon argues that, as a first step, we need to clarify the circumstances under which society becomes inertial and finds change difficult. Using a range of historical and contemporary examples, he shows that society's use of space is a powerful source of this inertia. Different sources of geographical inertia are explored, including society's symbolization and organizational structuring of space, together with its capitalization of landscape. Building on this mapping of inertia, Professor Dodgshon shows how society has long steered radical change around such spaces. Society in Time and Space will be of interest not only to geographers but also to historians and social theorists.
Contents: 1. Human geography and societal change; 2. Establishing a taxonomy of societal change; 3. Varieties of change: world systems and empires; 4. The experience of change: states and regions; 5. Sources of inertia and the cultural construction of landscape; 6. Organizational sources of inertia; 7. The built environment as a source of inertia; 8. Conceptualizing inertia: the first step towards a geography of social change; 9. The geography of societal change: a concluding synthesis.
