Published
May 1, 2025Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1447369066Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
May 1, 2025Page count
256 pagesISBN
978-1447369080Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy Press
The Borders Within
Geographic divisions that exist internally within countries – ‘the borders within’ – can be seen in how much people earn and levels of economic growth, as well as in health and educational outcomes.
With fresh thinking, this book explores what lies beneath these geographic divisions and what maintains them. Its novel framework shows how different social class groups derive radically different meanings from place that heighten geographic divisions.
Drawing on research with over 200 young people across 17 different UK localities, this book challenges orthodox policy understandings of regional development, putting forward an alternative starting point for how we address borders within countries.
Michael Donnelly is Professor of Education and Social Policy at the University of Bath and leads the Education, Work and Social Change research group.
1. Introduction
2. The Problem of Geographic Divisions
3. Knowing a place
4. Places worth knowing
5. People Worth Knowing
6. Place is Positional
7. Place is person-centred
8. The Flawed Logics of Regional Development
9. Growing local economies
10. Educational fixes?
11. Dismantling the Borders Within
