Space:

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Space

• The social construction of space
• Public-Private differences
• How we use space, how we confer meaning

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Public Private Distinction Long Tradition

• Toennies gemeinschaft vs. gesellshaft
• gemeinschaft small homogenious society
• Advantages familiarity, trust.
• Gesellschaft a society in which presence of
  strangers, heterogeneity of members, interests
  are diverse conflict is expected, formal social
  control
• The advantage of gesellschaft Achievement of
  individuality and autonomy in a Gesellschaft.

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• Recent changes in the proportions of public and
  private space in North American cities The
  decrease of the public and privatization of
  social functions. Increase in private shopping
  malls, theme parks. Large housing units, with
  activities rooms, not use outdoor or community
  facilities where anyone can congregate
• activities traditionally associated with public
  space transferred to private spaces
• over-regulation of public space.

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• Public Space universal access
• all activity within confines of the law is
  permitted eg park, picnicking, bring blanket
• Private space access regulated by the owner
  activities regulated (no picnicking)
• private policing in commercial space
• there is also informal social control

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• Richard Sennett, Decline of public space leads to
  loss of civility.
• European public squares,
• cafes, pubs a grey area, can conduct private life
  there.
• Bowling alone Social capital easier to develop
  in previous public arenas.

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• Example, The Terminal
• space becomes functional for diverse purposes.
• 'The Terminal' emphasizes that the airport is
  one giant shopping mall,

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• two changes in US airports since 2001, extended
  security lines, random searches, armed soldiers
  and bomb-sniffing dogs pushed the airport from
  the anonymous background of modern travel into
  the anxious foreground, where we are all both
  suspects and potential victims.
• The airport now sits at the center of a tangle
  of American values that have been called into
  question by the terrorist attacks and unending
  war on terror mobility, anonymity, rootedness,
  nationalism, diversity, homogeneity and
  globalism. "I would say we're in an era where
  there is a distinct airport culture," (writer,
  Pico Iyer. )

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Goffmans micro-level sociology.

• We put on public guise, a front stage behavior
  and acted the proper way to meet others
  expectations of the right kind of identity.
• Since we act the part of what is expected, our
  surroundings shape our identities in public.

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Types of territories after Goffman

• 1. Public space individuals have freedom of
  access, but not necessarily of action. The
  terminal, may not even have freedom of access.
  (Only ticket holders.)
• 2. Home space individuals have a sense of
  freedom and autonomy in it.
• 3. Interactional place mobile, defined by a
  particular activity.
• 4. Body space of and around the body.

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Social space Loflands view

• Works at the Micro-level
• Her query How in large multiethnic city, with
  many strangers, peoples that dont know and dont
  understand each others cultures maintain trust.
  How to keep fear at bay?
• From two traditions i) gemeinschaft and
  gesellshaft , ii) Goffmans version of
  interactionism

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• question how do people convert a strange place
  to one that looks familiar to them? How do they
  convert the Gesellschaft into Gemeinschaft?
• In Lofland's terms public - private dichotomy
• how do we live in the public space? How do we
  create order? How can we develop community based
  on social trust?

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• Taking after Goffman Lofland explores how people
  use territory. She notes how people need to show
  their persona, people act privately even in
  public spaces.
• As interactionist, she sees peoples identities
  as multiple and shifting attachments, depending
  on the context. She also sees the context as
  having shifting meanings, by who is there, time
  of day, etc.

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Loflands main issues

• People work to make their space meaningful
• Stranger Definition Any person who is
  personally unknown to the actor of reference, but
  visually available to him. We need to order
  strangers.

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Forms of knowledge of people and places.

• We order the environment by categorizing people
  and places. Three forms of knowing
• simple knowing
• complex knowing
• personal knowing

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Locational transformation

• We change the setting so that we feel
  comfortable, even if the setting is public, we
  privatize it
• We take over the setting (patrons/customers,
  etc)
• It is also done by props, clothing, symbols.

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• Coding Schemes restricted versus universal.
• Reading the language given off by actions or
  indications
• Acquiring Skills
• Learning where to go

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Summary of Lofland,

• i) moving from small town, where numbers limited,
  sheer biophysical limitation on humans recognize
  all, may be 4000
• ii) as population increases, differentiation,
  more complex, structural limitations to knowing
  appear.
• iii) Temporal limitations also appear large
  settlements include new arrivals

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• Assumptions to maintain self esteem, need to
  protect the self. how one defines a given
  situation or object is crucial to how one acts.
• i) The space is arranged to give off meanings,
• ii) There are rules for coding, or defining
• iii) accompanying behavioral repertoires
  appropriate to coded object
• iv) enough information about object ot be able to
  activate the coding rules using all sensory
  apparatus.

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The marketing of environments

• The environment gives off a theme
• Store owners develop a theme for marketing
• Is the ethnic theme real or created?
  Disneyland, Kensington Market
• Gottdiener notes the staged presence of the
  community. Marketing comes in and the community
  becomes more like a stage to sell a particular
  theme.

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Possessions have meaning

• People not only surrounded by other people, but
  by objects
• Participants, or insiders, confer meaning to
  items that outsiders do not share.

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• people value goods which remind them, or make
  visible and stable categories of meaning
• collective meaning
• personal meaning
• Goods do not simply reveal social relations, they
  are also participants in social relations.

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Doing Research on this topic

• Lofland did lots of interviews and participant
  observation, developing categories from her
  observations. Taking notes, asking people how
  they used space. First explore what makes the
  environment appear how it is supposed to be?
• What is the theme, or multiple themes given off?
  What are the images and encounters
• How do you know?

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• Describe the objects, what the buildings are,
  other objects.
• How do people use the space? What do they do to
  it to transform the meaning? They work on it.
• Is there competition to confer meanings to the
  space?
• Are there variations by time of day? suggesting
  that the place confers different meanings by how
  it is used.

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• Other features of the space
• Smells
• Sounds

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• Some may look for how people transform bricks
  and mortar to be an ethnic neighborhood? How do
  you transform a city neighborhood into one with
  meaning for ethnicity. What makes Neighborhoods
  ethnic?
• Alternatively, How do people they escape a niche
  if they want to avoid ethnic categorization?