Spatial and Social Disparities

The concept of inequality is one that we use frequently to refer to the diversity of the individual, place or object. But, following Amartya Sen (1992), the central question in any analysis or assessment is “inequality of what?”. The social sciences “system of interest” is more closely circumscribed although the range of relevant subject matter is still enormous. It encompasses the traditional fields of regional development and regional science in which, like human geography, differences across physical space are of paramount importance, as well as fields such as health studies and social policy where the focus on difference is less spatial and more oriented towards the age, gender and physical and mental condition of aggregate populations as well as towards difference in material advantage and social background.