Sociology of Space

While reading about Georg Simmel for a sociology class, I came across articles that he wrote on the sociology of space. Here is a quick paragraph and a half about his contributions from The Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (another interesting website I discovered while searching for more info on his writings).


" In the 1903 article, and later 1908 chapter section, "On the Spatial Projection of Social Forms," Simmel focuses upon how social interaction produces various spatial effects and forms. He discusses four domains of spatial formation. First, social organization requires organization of space, especially at the level of political and economic institutions. For example, individuals can be treated differently by their national location. Second, authority and domination take on various spatial dimensions, such as territorial control. Third, there are spatial dimensions to social solidarity. A group's communal bonds may be stronger if they have a "home" or physical center; however, he notes that the Jewish people, post-Diaspora (and pre-Isreal), find social unity without a central location. Similarly, modern society is developing toward greater abstractness, without a center. A money economy is an example, in which objects can be thought of abstractly as pure expression of value. Also, communication technologies allow concrete spatial settings to be less important in many transactions, with today's Internet society a case in point.
Overall, Simmel's thoughts on the relation of space to the social world did not, at first, leave a legacy. This was in part because he offered mainly a collection of ideas and insights, rather than a theory or method that others might adopt. Simmel, however, clearly showed his readers the relevance of space to sociological thinking and analysis, which has only recently been rediscovered. "


Find the whole article about Simmel here: http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/75.

Language Can Impact How You Perceive Space

We can perceive the space we are in differently if we speak different languages. I found this fascinating. "Psychological experiments have also shown that under certain circumstances, speakers of Guugu Yimithirr-style languages even remember “the same reality” differently from us. There has been heated debate about the interpretation of some of these experiments, but one conclusion that seems compelling is that while we are trained to ignore directional rotations when we commit information to memory, speakers of geographic languages are trained not to do so. One way of understanding this is to imagine that you are traveling with a speaker of such a language and staying in a large chain-style hotel, with corridor upon corridor of identical-looking doors. Your friend is staying in the room opposite yours, and when you go into his room, you’ll see an exact replica of yours: the same bathroom door on the left, the same mirrored wardrobe on the right, the same main room with the same bed on the left, the same curtains drawn behind it, the same desk next to the wall on the right, the same television set on the left corner of the desk and the same telephone on the right. In short, you have seen the same room twice. But when your friend comes into your room, he will see something quite different from this, because everything is reversed north-side-south. In his room the bed was in the north, while in yours it is in the south; the telephone that in his room was in the west is now in the east, and so on. So while you will see and remember the same room twice, a speaker of a geographic language will see and remember two different rooms." Read the full NY Times article here.

Imaginary space and "Cosmic Love"

I've thought about the notion of physical space before (tangible space-- buildings, forests etc), but I have yet to consider mental, spiritual, imaginary space. When I listen to certain music I am transported elsewhere, whether it be to a memorable moment in time or to a fictional place.

I'm familiar with the idea that my thoughts occupy space in my head metaphorically, for example some thoughts are in the front of my brain (implying three-dimensionality), and others are lost in my brain (implying that they have gone missing among other things, just like your keys). But, they don't really occupy space do they? Yes, there are some biological things that occupy space in my head that produce thoughts, but that is insignificant right now. So, if they don't occupy space, what happens when one has these day-dream-like experiences? Is it possible to have a mental space?

I was listening to the song "Cosmic Love" by Florence and the Machine when I decided to compose a post on this topic. The name of this song in particular is interesting to consider when thinking about the phenomenon of non-tangible space because the word "cosmic" refers to either outer space (as in where the stars are) or the idea of limitless/immeasurable space. The word "love" refers to an emotion. Perhaps I thought about non-physical space because of the title of the song, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but I thought the relevant title was worth mentioning. I'm mentioning it's title also because I recommend you go listen to it (I'm really into this song right now). Don't watch the music video until you've listened to it a few times. Videos create for you the imaginary space that music usually evokes, and what's the fun in that? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfBY96qxVRQ