The political construction of scale

Urban Democracy and the Local Trap

“…While this principle is widely held in the literature, it is best articulated by Sallie Marston's (2000) often-cited article. The argument is that all scales are socially produced through struggle (Delaney and Leitner, 1997;Kelly, 1997). Therefore, the particular qualities of a given scale, such as its extent, its function or its relationships to other scales, are not eternal or ontologically given (Smith, 1992(Smith, , 1993.…”

Re-Imagining the Nation

“…Similarly, critical geographers have been warning against essentializing the national scale (e.g. Delaney and Leitner, 1997;Marston, 2000;Mountz and Hyndman, 2006). For example, territorial belonging can be expressed at the urban scale, which may be better suited to accommodate migrants, non-migrants and Indigenous populations alike (e.g.…”

Neil Smith's Scale

“…Building on the theoretical insights of Neil's scholarship, a new trajectory of scale research emerged around questions of how the construction of scale also is attempted or accomplished by a diverse set of actors engaged in political transformations-the practice of a politics of scale. Such practices draw attention to the uneven relationships between space and power, but also to conceptions and ideologies that situated social actors bring to their efforts to change the world and, of course, to resist undesirable change (Delaney and Leitner 1997). Some of this had to do with classical questions of political economy anticipated by Neil: the state and class politics, for example (Smith 1992a(Smith , 2008.…”

“…In addition to their theoretical response-which is centrally directed to the question (also posed by Delaney and Leitner 1997) of what kind of space scale is-Marston and Smith criticize Brenner for an "inability to see the theoretical relevance of the social reproduction argument " (2001:617). Noting that it is "arbitrary that the home is relegated to a 'place' or 'arena', while the state gets to be a multifaceted 'scale'" (2001:618), they argue that while "[f]uture historical research may yet reveal the household to be a 'stable background structure' in all of this … the smart money will be wagered elsewhere" (2001:618).…”