ABSTRACT
There are several possible routes into the problem of social and spatial exclusion. I want to start by considering people’s feelings about others because of the importance of feelings in their effect on social interaction, particularly in instances of racism and related forms of oppression. If, for example, we consider the question of residential segregation, which is one of the most widely investigated issues in urban geography, it could be argued that the resistance to a different sort of person moving into a neighbourhood stems from feelings of anxiety, nervousness or fear. Who is felt to belong and not to belong contributes in an important way to the shaping of social space. It is often the case that this kind of hostility to others is articulated as a concern about property values but certain kinds of difference, as they are culturally constructed, trigger anxieties and a wish on the part of those who feel threatened to distance themselves from others. This may, of course, have economic consequences.
