Frank M. Howell - Böcker

Recapturing Space: New MiddleRange Theory in Spatial Demography

With a unique focus on middle-range theory, this book details the application of spatial analysis to demographic research as a way of integrating and better understanding the different transitional components of the overall demographic transition.This book first details key concepts and measures in modern spatial demography and shows how they can be applied to middle-range theory to better understand people, places, communities and relationships throughout the world. Next, it shows middle-range theory in practice, from using spatial data as a proxy for social science statistics to examining the effect of "fracking” in Pennsylvania on the formation of new coalitions among environmental advocacy organizations. The book also traces future developments and offers some potential solutions to promoting and facilitating instruction in spatial demography.This volume is an ideal resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in courses involving spatial analyses in the social sciences, from sociology and political science to economics and educational research. In addition, scholars and others interested in the role that geographic context plays in relation to their research will find this book a helpful guide in further developing their work.

The discipline of Sociology has a rich history of including spatial context in the analysis of social issues.  Much of this history has revolved around the development and application of spatial theory aimed at understanding the geographic distribution of social problems, the organization of communities, and the relationship between society and the environment.  More recently, the social sciences have seen a large number of technological innovations that now make it possible to place social behaviour in spatial context.  Consequently, because of the historical disjuncture in the development of spatial theory and the recent development of relevant methodological tools, the relationship between materials describing both the methodological approaches and their theoretical importance a scattered throughout various books and articles.  Geographical Sociology consolidates these materials into a single accessible source in which spatial concepts such as containment, proximity, adjacency, and others are examined in relation to such methodological tools as hierarchical linear models, point pattern analysis, and spatial regression.  As these methods continue to increase in popularity among social scientists the ability to more generally understand societies relationship to geographic space will continue to increase in it importance in the field.  This book represents a starting point to linking these concepts to practice and is presented in an accessible form in which students, researchers, and educators can all learn, and in turn, contribute to its development.