Politics in Place: Social Power Relations in an Australian Country Town

by Ian Gray

• ISBN13: 9780521066532
• ISBN10: 0521066530
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Politics in Place focuses on political life in a typical Australian agricultural town. It examines the maintenance of a local political power structures through an analysis of the town's social processes and asociated ideologies. Dr Gray argues that local government does affect peoples' lives and discusses why it is that some people can use their local political system to their advantage while others remain unempowered. Unlike many earlier studies, Politics in Place does not rely on the identification of an _lite group, nor does it merely decribe static features of social stratification. Rather, it examines the historically-based processes that have created the constraints which limit prospects for local people. The book will be of interest to anyone wishing to gain an insight into the workings of politics at local level.

Table of Contents

List of figures, maps

Introduction: the origins of a study

Power: concepts and applications

A history of Cowra

Elitism and local government

Spatial politics

The politics of development

Gender, race and human services

The making of local politics

Ideologies and resources

Conclusion: the machinery of power

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

Appendix

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.