ancient cities

outnumber men in the more “sensitive” job sectors,
such as childcare workers, nurses, grade
school teachers, and social service positions. This
creates an obvious employment divide, outlining
workplace positions as either masculine or feminine
in nature. Although this is surely evolving due
to recognition of these spaces of difference, the
change is slow.
Age and Sociology
Age differences are important indicators of the
construction of spaces of difference. Sociologists
have been at the forefront of understanding how
age, particularly that of youth, plays into notions
of deviant and delinquent behavior and how
these social constructions maintain societal mores
and values. Alongside individuals, spaces are also
socially constructed as to where a person belongs
or does not belong depending on age. Young children
belong on playgrounds, but when youth in
their teenage years to early 20s enter into and
occupy these spaces, they are seen as troublesome
and delinquent. They disrupt the idea of who can
and who cannot use the playground. The work of
Stanley Cohen defines age barriers in terms of the
social construction of “folk devils.” Youth have
been conceived as causing moral panics when
they are in the wrong place or behave in an inappropriate
manner, such as skateboarding on a
basketball court, the wrong sport in this athletic
space. These same youth are sometimes considered
troublemakers when congregating in groups
and can be profiled and harassed by police and
business owners. Some business and market areas
in the United Kingdom post signs saying “no
chavs”; chav is a derogatory term for “youth”
and is often perpetuated in the news alongside the
term yob, another derogatory term. These youth
are marked as being out of place in market districts,
setting aside these places as appropriate for
older consumers. Even in terms of the elderly,
communities are created to cater to them while
excluding younger crowds. Yet, as with gender,
there is also a reversal of perception because an
elderly person is not seen as belonging to the
spaces of dance clubs, which cater to the aforementioned
youth. Spaces of difference socially
define spatial boundaries within urban areas
based upon age.
Spaces of Difference
Class and Marxism
757
Thanks to Marxist studies, class divisions are continually
discussed, especially in the current neoliberal
global climate. Exploitation of lower-class
individuals and groups in the neoliberal environment
are justified as opportunities for lower-class
individuals to improve their lot in life. Yet, these
systems are set up to maintain this division, therefore
ensuring the maintenance of a low-wage, lowskilled
working class to sustain profits for dominant
classes and companies. Agencies such as the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund have
perpetuated neoliberal notions of class while drastically
cutting access to social services such as education
and health care for lower-class individuals.
David Harvey is one of the most cited academics
discussing the ways in which corporate profit
motivations continue to maintain class divisions.
These divisions ensure that upper-class individuals
receive good education, including creative and cultural
support in the arts, while lower-class individuals
continue to be force-fed dominant neoliberal
myths about history and propriety. This relegates
lower-class individuals to the spaces of difference
to which they have been assigned. For example,
schoolchildren in the United States are taught that
Columbus discovered America, the colonists were
kind to the “Indians,” and the struggles of the civil
war were only about slavery. Creative and cultural
education is rare within this framework. Lowerclass
children are taught what to think while
upper-class children are taught how to think. This
carries over into creating a divide between skilled
creative jobs for the upper class and service and
industrial sector employment futures for lowerclass
children. With this divide in place, neoliberal
notions of equality simply do not exist.
Ethnicity, Religion, and Social Identity
Ethnicity and religion are tense topics in these
globalized times. Ethnic and religious wars and
conflicts occur daily and reflect the geopolitical
processes altering the nature of spatial awareness.
These differences are often tied to physical locations
within urban environments. In dynamic cities,
there are often clearly drawn lines separating
different ethnic and religious groups from others
through the development of neighborhoods. Often