Social geography is a branch of human geography that studies the relationships between geographic space and different manifestations of human society, such as migratory movements, city-country dynamics or different emerging social movements..
With antecedents dating back to the first decades of the twentieth century, it was not until the mid-1970s that social geography began to gain special relevance..
Before the emergence of social geography, this discipline was conceived more as the study of natural spaces or the record of the great changes produced by humans on the geographical area, without a social approach to it..
Due to its treatment and its field of study, it is considered very close to other forms of knowledge, such as sociology and social anthropology, and it would come to differentiate itself from other nearby branches of geography by placing greater emphasis on social problems..
The French school of geography, on the one hand, and the Chicago sociological school on the other, both during the twenties of the last century, have been pointed out as antecedents or origins of social geography..
In France, the most prominent figure would be Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918), who insisted on the close relationship between human communities and the natural environment, that is, the influence of factors such as climate, topography and the quality of soils in rural societies.
In the United States it would be the sociological school of Chicago, in the figure of the sociologist Robert Park (1864-1944), who, influenced by the evolutionist ideas of Charles Darwin and by botany, would propose a model of urban development in which human groups would behave in a similar way to botanical species.
Another member of the Chicago school, Ernest Burgess (1886-1966), proposed a model of concentric occupation of cities, which would influence geographers and sociologists in later years..
Burgess suggested that the spatial distribution of cities was also a social distribution, with a center dedicated to business and offices, a second circle with warehouses and warehouses, the third with low-income families, another with middle income, and a periphery made up of the more prosperous class.
However, for authors such as David Smith and John Eyles, social geography is the product of research trends that emerged during the postwar period (after 1945), with studies developed during the 1960s and 1970s..
As part of the emergence of this discipline, the “radical geography” of the British David Harvey (1935) stands out, and other approaches of Marxist roots in Europe, the United States and Latin America, such as that of the Brazilian geographer Milton Santos (1926-2001).
In Germany, during the 1970s the so-called "critical geography" emerged, based on the postulates of critical theory of the Frankfurt School. Both radical and critical are included in the so-called social geography.
There has also been a presence, especially in France, of social currents and theories such as structuralism and postmodernism..
In French social geography, the figure of Robert Hérin (1936) stands out. And in Spain, in the field of urban geography, the figure of Manuel de Terán (1904-1984) stands out..
Since the mid-1980s, this discipline has incorporated other perspectives, coming from the environmentalist, feminist and LGBTQ movements..
The object of study of social geography is the relationships and dynamics that are established between groups and social movements and the geographic space; addressing aspects such as the history of the occupation of the various spaces, the city-countryside relationship, the establishment or lack of basic services, among other aspects.
Also for some decades it has dealt with issues and problems such as racism, crime, inequity in the provision of public services, gender relations, etc..
And currently he has placed a lot of emphasis on global and local migration processes, and on the growing deterioration of the environment, as well as the way in which different social groups perceive the space they occupy.
A subdiscipline has emerged from social geography: cultural geography, the object of which is to relate territories with cultural identity elements such as, for example, the Latin American sphere or the Francophonie.
Both disciplines, social and cultural, are considered closely related and subordinate to human geography.
For some authors, social geography is simply human geography contaminated by sociology, however it is a discipline that has managed to break through and proven to be very useful..
The critical analysis of the relationship between social groups and the territories they occupy, allows detecting and demarcating areas of conflict, helping to visualize both problems and possible solutions or alternatives..
The territorial and spatial vision provided by social geography is a fundamental tool for local and national governments and international organizations, in the management of conflict situations, or in solving major problems..
Social geography also makes it possible to foresee and plan the growth of cities and the management of natural resources, as well as to identify and locate trends and social groups..
The information provided by the social geography can be used in the rational planning of the territory: to locate industrial development zones, parks or ecological reserves, plan basic services and the construction of houses.
To the traditional methods and techniques of geography (location and distribution, description, explanation, comparison, association, etc.), the social aspect has incorporated other methods from other disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, social communication, etc..
Beyond mapping, social geography uses surveys, information review, use of satellite images and aerial photographs, surveys, censuses and questionnaires, government and journalistic information, etc..
Social geographers use techniques such as participatory diagnostics, in which social groups develop mental maps and determine problems and needs.
They also rely on new technologies to create geographic information systems, which serve to have a broad vision of sectors, cities or regions..
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