Spatial social thought

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Global, local, glocal – reflecting on world social science emphasizes the significance of space. In these spatial dichotomies, the global lacks a specific location, while localities seem detached from this realm. Discourses on world social science distinguish social thought based on the spaces of their origin. Space influences how social scientists perceive social reality, with Southern, Western, and Northern knowledge reflecting not just the thinker’s address but also their theoretical perspective. Social thoughts are often viewed as confined within their spatial contexts, with thinkers seen as representatives of specific spaces—political, cultural, or otherwise—implying that their ideas are mere reflections of their environments. This raises the question of whether the world social science arena, filled with these spatially bound thoughts, can foster shared understanding, or if such encounters are futile unless rooted in a common spatial context. The book examines examples of spatially constructed knowledges and the challenges they face in trying to connect and transcend their spatial confines. Ultimately, it questions whether the Western approach to contextualizing social thought is a dead-end for social inquiry globally.