The promise of the city : space, identity, and politics in contemporary social thought / Kian Tajbakhsh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tajbakhsh, Kian, 1962-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sociology, Urban.

Marxian school of sociology.

Physical Description:

xv, 229 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2001]

Summary:

Finding the contemporary urban scene too complex to be captured by radical or conventional approaches, Kian Tajbakhsh in The Promise of the City proposes a new theoretical framework for the study of cities and urban life, one that links identity, space, and structure. For Tajbakhsh, cities offer the promise of communities built around multiple spaces, supple boundaries, and hybrid identities. He explores the way these resources can deepen the connections between democracy, difference, and social justice.

Tajbakhsh examines these dimensions in the work of three major critical urban theorists: Manuel Castells, David Harvey, and Ira Katznelson. He shows how other intellectual traditions such as poststructuralism, feminism, Habermasian critical theory, and pragmatism can help us better understand the opportunities facing contemporary cities.

Contents:

Introduction: Identity, Structure, and the Spaces of the City 1

1. Marxian Class Analysis, Essentialism, and the Problem of Urban Identity 35

2. Beyond the Functionalist Bias in Urban Theory 72

3. Toward the Historicity and the Contingency of Identity 113

4. Difference, Democracy, and the City 162.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-226) and index.

ISBN:

0520222776

0520222784

OCLC:

42786256