Important Contributions to Geo-Sociology

Abstract

A number of location-specific spatial theories of human and societal organization have developed over the past century. Theories of location and population organization have long been formally documented, complete with supporting empirical facts and well-developed theoretical propositions from a number of related disciplines. In some of the earliest theories on the understanding of the role of place, economic maximization was the driving force. These theories focused on places as central nodes as being interdependent and or providing a spatialized context to economic and social regions. While most of these theories were developed in the field of economics, they laid the groundwork for later work that is still thought of as foundational in the field of sociology (i.e. the Concentric Zonal Model of the Chicago School). At the time of publication, the most complete set of “classics” in the development of our current state of location theory known to the authors is the website of the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (or CSISS; see www.csiss.org). The CSISS has not only proven to be an important source of information concerning the documentation of contributions to the use of location-specific theories in the social sciences but also important in its own unique contributions which will be introduced in a later chapter. From the early economic models of location to the recent unification of spatial thinking at the CSISS, a foundational understanding of geographic context in the field of sociology has been laid and provides the framework from which this book moves forward.