Why Place Matters in My Discipline
Place is defined as “a portion of space available or designated for or being used by someone. Now, that of course is one of many definitions but, some believe there is more to the meaning. For years now the concept of placement has been utilized as a form of generalizing an area in order to receive data/outputs from said area. Place is important to me because average humans crave the feeling to belong. Place immediately connects you to a community or a system. For example, in an Environmental Science class, one will learn of a “system”. That is defined as a network of relationships among parts, elements or components. Place is important because those who are in relation to the connectivity of it create that system. A system is influenced by those who are in it. Place allows us to understand what is occurring in a specific area and why it is happening. Without “place” we would not understand the culture of a specific area of people.
This concept of place is applied to many different fields of collective data. In the article “The Social Ecology of Residential Patterns and Membership in Immigrant Churches”, authors Helen Ebaugh, Jennifer O’Brien, and Janet Chafetz gathered data through a geographic information system (GIS) in order to further understand the different religious congregation’s new immigrants create or join when settling in the United States(pg107). Not only is “place” classified as Texas, it is also classified as the specific church in which these immigrants choose to attend. This is important because through these findings, they were capable of understanding why specific people chose specific churches. Through interviews they understood why people benefit from specific churches, how they are accepted and how they interact with others(pg109). This is important because we are able to compare the differences between different churches and the community within it.
Through GIS, the authors concluded that churches of the same ethnic backgrounds are generally placed further in distance. Whereas, churches of the same religious background were placed closer in distance from each other. For example, the average distance to religious congregations in miles for St. Mary’s Catholic Church is 2.7. 2.7 miles from St. Mary’s is St. Catherine’s Catholic Church(pg109). Sociology is the study of the functioning of human behavior. This data relates highly to my field because it helps me further understand why humans specifically reach out to a certain community. Whether or not the benefits lure them in, or the religious and ethnics backgrounds, or simply because they feel at place. Some areas are more segregated than others, just like in Houston, Texas.
Geographic information systems and the concept of place is beneficial when we are using it to further inform populations of the unbalanced effects of certain situations in their community. For example, in the article “Food Deserts and Overweight Schoolchildren: Evidence from Pennsylvania” authors Kai Schaft, Eric Jensen, and Clare Hinrichs gather data on the many food deserts in Pennsylvania, and how many are within school districts. The “place” in this article is not only Pennsylvania, but food deserts as well. These areas are where children are most overweight. Now, it seems strange that the areas in which food sources are at a minimum, the children are overweight. This is so because, these children are exposed to poverty, therefore leading to bad eating habits due to lower prices and bad produce(pg162).
The use of GIS maps in this study concludes that food desert district areas are the ones with no major grocery stores within the area. The closest ones are within the outskirts of the deserts. Poverty within these districts are higher in rates as well(pg164). The income per capita in the food desert districts is about 15,600. The average in non-food desert districts is about 17,500. This has helped me to further understand how many lower income families are all grouped in the same area. This causes the area in which they reside to have a lower city income therefor minimal resources. This concludes unhealthy eating habits and overweight children. I understand now that those with lower income will purchase the more abundant food for a lower price, no matter how unhealthy.
Geographic Information Systems do not only better display the data and findings of researchers, but it also helps other visualize the various populations and conditions in which others or themselves are living in. Applying place to my discipline is such a broad field because there are so many types of data we can select in Sociology. The study of human interaction and behavior is a never ending habit. I can apply it to the ethnic backgrounds of certain communities. The actions and habits of a certain group of people. As well as other things like, the type of people moving to an area and why, or the reasons why people vote in one area and not the other. The topic that has interested me most recently, is why the suicide rates are so high in specific areas of Washington, California. If and when I choose to apply place into my own project it will surely be in that field. GIS systems may be used for awareness as well, we can help others visualize these happenings, and hopefully change them gradually.
Works Cited:
Ebaugh, Helen Rose, Jennifer O’Brien, and Janet Saltzman Chafetz. “The Social Ecology of Residential Patterns and Membership in Immigrant Churches.” EBSCO Host. Wiley Blackwell, 1 Mar. 2000. Web.
Schaft, Kai A., Eric B. Jensen, and C. Clare Hinrichs. “Food Deserts and Overweight Schoolchildren: Evidence from Pennsylvania.” EBSCOhost. Wiley Blackwell, 1 June 2009. Web.
