Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
discourses, including the supposedly value-free discourses of science. Crit-
ics argue that some social constructionists are contradictory in the sense
that they give ontological weight to 'society' (which 'constructs') but deny
the autonomy or ultimate knowability of non-social phenomena.
Social power The capacity to influence others in a range of ways arising
from the reputation, technologies and/or resources that a person, group or
institution possesses. There's no agreed definition of social power among its
analysts, though there's a broad consensus that social power comes in sev-
eral distinct forms in modern societies. For instance, legal power differs from
the power of product advertising in fairly obvious ways. A good deal of the
social power we are subject to today is 'soft'. It works through inducement
and persuasion rather than by force or sanction. Indeed, for many analysts,
'hard power' is better described using terms like violence, force or intimi-
dation. Power in all its forms is both potentiality and action, i.e. power to
(which may be unactualised) and power over (which is). Chapter 6 of this
book defines and analyses social power. See also soft power.
Socialisation The process of inculcating a person to a set of conven-
tional ideas, values and habits. Socialisation occurs in all walks of life, from
families and schools to workplaces. Socialisation forms the background
against which some organisations and people seek to challenge. Certain
ideas, values and habits can only be 'new' if they emerge out of a differ-
ent set of established ones. Social scientists have long debated how 'free'
people are to escape the power of their socialisation.
Soft power Any form of social power that involves using persuasion,
argument or inducement to alter the thinking or practice of various people.
Arguably, soft power is writ large in contemporary democratic societies. The
word 'soft' is not intended to mean that power in such societies is necessarily
weak .
Spatialisation The practice of associating particular phenomena or
events with particular locations or territories. Spatialisation is mental, an
imaginative geography, but it's anchored in what we perceive to be 'reali-
ties'. For instance, when I say the word 'wilderness', I might think of Siberia
or Alaska. This is because both regions appear to be barely inhabited or
domesticated when compared with, say, the farmlands of the Canadian
Prairies.
Subject-position A metaphorical place from which one can speak, lead-
ing to commensurate actions. Subject-positions are socially created. For
instance, what it means to be 'butch', 'feminine' or 'androgynous' will dif-
fer in the detail historically and geographically. Because a large number of
subject-positions are 'available' for us to occupy in most modern societies,
the 'self ' is these days a complex amalgam of such positions. There can be
acute contradictions between them, which we 'manage' in a variety of ways.
 
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