• DOI:10.1111/J.1471-0374.2005.00113.X
• Corpus ID: 145478914

Configurations of geographic and societal spaces: a sociological proposal between ‘methodological nationalism’ and the ‘spaces of flows’

@article{Pries2005ConfigurationsOG,
  title={Configurations of geographic and societal spaces: a sociological proposal between ‘methodological nationalism’ and the ‘spaces of flows’},
  author={Ludger Pries},
  journal={Global Networks-a Journal of Transnational Affairs},
  year={2005},
  volume={5},
  pages={167-190}
}

• L. Pries
• Published 1 April 2005
• Sociology
• Global Networks-a Journal of Transnational Affairs

The societal practices, symbol systems and artefacts that form sociology's field of study are shifting in their spatial reach. Terms like internationalization, globalization, glocalization or transnationalization denote an (at least perceived) increase in the flow of information, commodities and capital across nation-state borders as well as an unprecedented ease of human spatial mobility. Situated in the wider research programme of transnationalism, in this article I present a typology of geographic-societal spatial configurations, of which transnationalism is one of several ideal types. Distinguishing explicitly between an absolutist and a relativist approach to space and applying this to geographic and societal spaces, the article puts forward a framework for discussing how shifts in the geographic reach of the societal are taking place. The case of General Motors provides an example of how such a typology could be applied. The article concludes by discussing some consequences for future empirical research. New information, communication and transport technologies are bringing the world closer together. In the twenty-first century average individuals in rich industrialized countries, and members of the upper classes in all countries, could in theory visit every continent on the globe at least once in their lives. These people can also participate in the global flow of information as consumers (of television, radio, newspapers or books) and as actors (by using the telephone or Internet). The spatial scope of human action is becoming wider or global; the margins for human spatial mobility are shrinking. However, this is a condition enjoyed by only one-tenth of the world's population. In contrast, more than half of all human beings are unable to afford a daily newspaper. Furthermore, the societal preconditions and consequences of this segmented globalizing of opportunities and shrinking of mobility margins are distributed rather unequally over the globe. In general, increasing spatial mobility goes hand in hand with a wider scope of action to cope with the societal implications of globalization: somebody who can afford an eight-cylinder car with high fuel consumption is probably better able to protect him- or herself against the ubiquitous consequences of global warming (whose causes have a lot to do with the eight-cylinder car) than has a poor African peasant.