The Politics of ‘Race’ and a New Segregationism

Abstract

The study of ‘racial segregation’, both as a spatial pattern and as a socially constructed way of life, lies at the core of modern social geography. As an outcome of the biased operation of markets and institutions, the phenomenon has also been of interest to housing analysts and practitioners. In Britain, however, those concerned with the politics of ‘race’ have paid more attention to the economics of labour migration and the sociology of ‘race relations’ legislation than to the geography of settlement. This is curious, given politicians’ own pre-occupation with ‘racial segregation’ as a ‘problem’ in supposedly ‘multi-racial’ societies.