Concepts in social and spatial marginality

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual taxonomy of marginality resulting from two counterposed structural conditions within laissez-faire on the one hand and controlled markets on the other. Marginality is a complex condition of disadvantage that individuals and communities may experience because of vulnerabilities which may arise from unequal or inequitable environmental, ethnic, cultural, social, political and economic factors. A typology of marginality is based on two primary and two derivative forms. The primary forms are contingent and systemic. The derivative forms are collateral and leveraged. Contingent marginality is a condition that results from competitive inequality in which individuals and communities are put at a disadvantage because of the dynamics of the free market whose uncertain and stochastic outcomes affect them adversely. Systemic marginality is a socioeconomic condition of disadvantage created by socially constructed inequitable non-market forces of bias. Collateral marginality is a condition experienced by individuals or communities who are marginalized solely on the basis of their social and/or geographic proximity to individuals or communities that experience either contingent or systemic marginality. Leveraged marginality is a contingent or systemic disadvantage that people/communities are made to experience when their bargaining position in free markets is weakened by dominant stakeholders like transnational corporations which are able to leverage lucrative concessions by using the threat of alternative, often cheaper and marginalized (contingent or systemic) labour pools to which they can potentially take their business.

Vanishing Peripheries: Does Tourism Consume Places?

“…The concept is closely related to ideas of marginality which is a condition of disadvantage that may arise from unfavourable environmental, cultural, social, economic and political factors. Mehretu et al (2000) in their review of the concept of marginality noted that the literature on uneven development treats the phenomenon of marginality as a generic concept of socio-economic disadvantage in which inequality and inequity are treated as synonymous. Arguably, similar perspectives can be traced in the literature on peripherality (Hall2007).…”

La ségrégation économique comme un phénomène complexe : une analyse spatio‐temporelle du cas montréalais

“…En fait, on pourrait dire qu'il n'y a pas une ségrégation économique mais bien des ségrégations économiques. Ces dernières dépendent de processus différents et opèrent à des échelles diverses (Mehretu et al 2000 ;Pigozzi 2004). Elles agissent les unes sur les autres, conférant à la ségrégation économique un caractère particulièrement complexe.…”

Building communities to promote physical activity: a multi‐scale geographical analysis

“…A series of studies in the USA have shown the importance of racial and class tensions in shaping urban form. This has been particularly evident in the Detroit region, which, as argued by Lawrence Sommers, Assefa Mehretu, and Bruce Pigozzi, consists of some of the richest and poorest districts in the nation (Mehretu et al, 2000;Pigozzi, 2004;Sommers et al, 1998;). In addition, work by Joe Darden, Richard Hill, June Thomas and Richard Thomas has shown that it has not only been class conflicts but also racial tensions that have been critical in decentralizing greater Detroit (Darden et al, 1987;Darden and Kamel, 2000).…”