Call for abstracts – Royal Geographical Society conference 1-5 September 2015, University of Exeter, England Session title: “Middle classes and the politics of space in transforming cities” Sponsored by the Urban Geography Research Group Organisers Ryan Centner (Geography, London School of Economics) [email protected] Claire Mercer (Geography, London School of Economics) [email protected] Hyun Bang Shin (Geography, London School of Economics) [email protected] Session abstract The rise of middle classes is often regarded as important in enabling societal changes, but this recognition is not without controversy and debates. One may assume middle classes, based on accumulating affluence and stronger notions of property rights, might accelerate societal changes as agents exerting pressure on more dominant interests. In this view, middle classes are motivated by their greater awareness of individual rights, which may come into conflict when authoritarian or neoliberal states violate these. Conversely, other views suggest middle classes may not rise against dominant interests as long as their material interests are guaranteed. Such a view underwrites the critique that middle classes nurtured by the state (e.g., East Asian developmental state or neo- authoritarian socialist state) may be stronger supporters of the dominant regime, acting as conservative barriers to any progressive movements by the marginalised, poor, or working classes. The intensification of urbanisation and urban accumulation at a planetary scale impels critics to revisit the conventional debates on the role of middle classes in facilitating societal changes. If the new global middle classes are mostly urban, what does this mean for dynamics of urban change? The apparent emergence of new middle classes in Africa, Asia and Latin America has been celebrated in some quarters as a new dawn for economic stability and democratic consolidation. In Africa, where the African Development Bank recently designated a third of the continent’s population as middle class based on per capita daily expenditure, the middle classes are characterized as an already existing homogeneous group of urban consumers with predictable lifestyles, consumption patterns and political behaviours. In East Asia, where a particular ‘politics and culture of property’ is thought to have been consolidated in times of the region’s condensed urbanisation and industrialisation, the emerging middle classes are less likely to call for major reforms or revolutionary changes that would undermine their asset basis. In Latin America, middle classes have supported some transformative governments while openly rebelling against others. In Turkey, India, as well as parts of Latin America, middle classes have become embroiled in protracted intra-class disputes that affect the nature of symbolic politics and urban interventions with redistributive implications. From Europe to North America to the Middle East to the Antipodes, analysts highlight different dynamics still, leading us to question the analytic coherence and utility of “middleclassness” for geography. In this session we invite papers that interrogate these assumptions about new middle classes with particular attention to the politics of urban space. Session format We envisage this panel will consist of two linked paper sessions. Depending on the number and quality of abstracts we receive, these could include four papers of 20 minutes each (with questions/discussion at the end) or five papers of 15 minutes each. There will be an appointed discussant for each session. Further information To be considered, please submit an abstract of 250 words (maximum) to all three email addresses below. Include your name, affiliation, and position, as well as any co-authors. Deadline: 10 February 2015 Conference website with general information: rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Annual+international+conference.htm
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 11:02:51 +0000