Baton Rouge—A Neopragmatic Regional Geographic Approach

Abstract

The present contribution to a neopragmatic approach to regional geography attempts to collect, structure, and reflect knowledge with different spatial, social, and cultural references. This is not a matter of designing a classical regional or landscape “compartmentalization” of distinct spatial units, which are characterized by a specific reciprocal shaping of culture and the initial physical substrate, but of investigating and reflecting the reciprocal influences of different levels of scale as well as the construction mechanisms and contingency of spatial units. By means of “theoretical” and also empirical “triangulation”, a differentiated picture of complex research objects—here Baton Rouge, LA—is generated, whereby (partial) contradictions between theoretical approaches and the relationship between the various appropriately chosen theories and equally well-chosen empirical methods are also accepted.

“... Inconceivable, Unrealistic and Inhumane”. Internet Communication on the Flood Disaster in West Germany of July 2021 between Conspiracy Theories and Moralization—A Neopragmatic Explorative Study

“…As indicated, a theory triangulation of Niklas Luhmann's media theory and Ralf Dahrendorf's conflict theory (on this among others: [31][32][33][34]) in the sense of a 'neopragmatic approach' (in summary [35][36][37][38][39]) needs to be justified, since the scientific theoretical foundations are quite different: Luhmann's approach is based on radical constructivism, whereas Dahrendorf follows critical rationalism. However, both approaches have a complementary framing potential for the question of our investigation: Luhmann deals with the meaning of moral communication, especially in the mass media, and how this leads to conflicts, but does not operationalize these conflicts (i.e., social macro-theory) further.…”

Technological Transformation Processes and Resistance—On the Conflict Potential of 5G Using the Example of 5G Network Expansion in Germany

“…With Dahrendorf, the phased nature of the conflicts as well as the possibilities and limits of their regulation can be understood; with Bourdieu, the embeddedness of the conflicts in social differences, which can be determined by the different availability of symbolic capital. Not only because of the triangulation of the two theoretical approaches, but also because of the empirical implementation, the intensive cooperation of different researchers and the use of data from different sources, our study can be classified in the tradition of 'neopragmatic spatial research' [18][19][20].…”