The Dialectics of Space Subsumption, Struggle in Space, and Position of Localities

Abstract

Society and space are elements in a dialectical separation within a unity. The former is in a position to subsume the latter. Once subsumption occurs, contradictions emerge, which must be negated through real subsumption: bounding and spatial integration. These socio-spatial dialectics are class- and ethnic-specific; thus, space subsumption is inevitably the contested terrain among different classes and ethnic groups. This article examines several spatial contradictions: the relation between the more institutionalized Wirkungsraum and the more anarchical Aktionsraum; networks with the inherent paradox to create spatial unevenness and struggles over “stray space,” class, or ethnically specific modes of territorial integration in the central-place system; and scale jumping. All these manifest the struggle between les representation de l’espace and les espaces de representation (Lefebvre [1974] 1991). It is the task of critical geographers to propagate and explore this struggle and prove that space is indeed an indispensable element in waging a social battle.