Role of the Factor of Space in Social Sciences and Cultural Geography

Abstract

The importance of factor of geographical space for social sciences is discussed. The coordinates of time and space and the strategy of accounting of heterogeneity of geographical space are taken into account. It is shown that the systematic refusal from accounting of the factor of geographical space leads to an accumulation of errors and to the distortion of the real picture of the processes in the society. The popular term of “network society” (network landscape) in fact is an antagonist of geographical space. The Russian tradition to neglect the factor of geographical space in social sciences dates back to the K. Marx’s scheme: the general and the particular. Local features of the geographical spaces are considered as “parts” not going beyond the framework of “whole”. It is shown that such a construction is not mandatory and is wrong also from a theoretical point of view. In world practice, the alternative theories (in particular, the evolutionary theories of Ch. Darwin and L.S. Berg, the economic theories of monetarism and Keynesian economics) have different factual basis, including different fragments of geographical space. A priori interpretation of any fragments of geographical space as interchangeable by Russian sociologists leads to ill-founded conclusions. The current state of cultural geography is reviewed critically. The negative assessment of the refusal of traditions, causing little attention is paid to research of various local issues, is presented. The results of studies in the field of modeling of geographical images are critically reviewed. New trends in the development of cultural geography unite it with modern political technologies. From the point of view of the author, cultural geography should unit a thorough analysis of various local cultural conditions with theoretical generalizations.