de invloed van de buurt - Maatschappijwetenschappen - Universiteit ...

12
Michael Dear
wheelchair and observing that his body was encased in cumbersome metal
frameworks. In order to spare him embarrassment, as I thought, I quickly
decided to avoid shaking his hand and carried on the conversation. Minutes
later another person walked in and immediately shook hands with the man in
the wheelchair. I felt mortified, because I realised immediately that I was
trying to avoid my discomfort rather than that of the person in the
wheelchair.
(2) Once initiated, how does the spatial partition that is the physical
expression of boundary setting act to reinforce the boundary between self
and other? In other words, how does the fact that we are separate reinforce
the boundary between us?
(3) How does individual rejection become a generalised stigma attached to
whole social groups? For instance, many people will have observed HIV/
AIDS advocates being arrested by police forces, whose members wear
telegenic yellow rubber gloves to convey the danger and separateness of the
protesters
(4) How do the capricious reaction of individuals and groups get translated
into institutional practices and norms? I am thinking here of the production
of zoning laws, anti-discrimination statues, and other institutional
imperatives for exclusion, even extermination.
(5) How are the consequent landscapes of intolerance produced and
sustained? In this case, we might examine the ghettos of homeless people in
the inner city, or the diminished citizenship suffered by persons already
afflicted by disability.
The concerns that I have just identified may seem remote from the
technicalities of the models that I described at the beginning of this essay.
Yet a properly - constituted neighbourhood effect problematic must take into
account this range of complexity (or, by extension, an analogous set of
concerns in a topical area other than services for disabled persons). To the
extent that traditional models are incapable of dealing with these everyday
complexities, then such models need to be revised and expanded. To the
extent that such revisions cannot be accommodated in modelling frameworks,
then it is imperative that alternative analytical frameworks be
devised. The contributors to their collection examine a wide variety of
neighbourhood effects, and thereby define a valuable research agenda for
this important and expanding field of inquiry.