The Space between Us
Social Geography and Politics

A timely, insightful look at the profound effects of social geography on how we relate to, think about, and politically interact across groups in the fabric of our daily lives.

Ryan D. Enos (Author)

9781108430715, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 January 2019

318 pages
21 x 15.3 x 2.1 cm, 0.42 kg

'The reader is left with the sense of having watched a master artisan at work. Even if preliminary guidelines, drawn to establish accurate perspective, may initially seem overly technical representations for the mess of social life, after Enos's diligent layering of detail and definition, the picture that emerges changes the way you view the real world. Enos has made the space between us a necessary consideration for understanding interaction and cooperation in diverse social landscapes.' David J. Amaral, Journal of Urban Affairs

The Space between Us brings the connection between geography, psychology, and politics to life. By going into the neighborhoods of real cities, Enos shows how our perceptions of racial, ethnic, and religious groups are intuitively shaped by where these groups live and interact daily. Through the lens of numerous examples across the globe and drawing on a compelling combination of research techniques including field and laboratory experiments, big data analysis, and small-scale interactions, this timely book provides a new understanding of how geography shapes politics and how members of groups think about each other. Enos' analysis is punctuated with personal accounts from the field. His rigorous research unfolds in accessible writing that will appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike, illuminating the profound effects of social geography on how we relate to, think about, and politically interact across groups in the fabric of our daily lives.

1. The red line
2. The demagogue of space
3. The demagogue's mechanism: groups, space, and the mind
4. Laboratories: assigning space
5. Boston: trains, immigrants and the Arizona question
6. Chicago: projects and a shock to social geography
7. Jerusalem: walls and the problem of cooperation
8. Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles: contact and exit
9. Phoenix: the arc of intergroup interactions and the political future.

Subject Areas: Political geography [RGCP], Comparative politics [JPB]