Geographic Inequality

Geographic inequality refers to unequal distribution of income, wealth, services, health, and opportunity across places, including differences between regions, between urban and rural areas, and between neighborhoods within cities. Immanuel Wallerstein's world-systems theory and dependency theorists such as Andre Gunder Frank explained global spatial inequality through the structure of the capitalist world economy, while Gunnar Myrdal's cumulative causation argued that regional advantages and disadvantages reinforce themselves. Neil Smith described uneven development as an outcome of capital's movement across space, and David Harvey linked it to the production of space under capitalism. Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton showed how racial segregation concentrates disadvantage, and William Julius Wilson examined concentrated poverty in inner cities after deindustrialization. Robert Sampson documented neighborhood effects on children, and Raj Chetty has mapped how mobility varies across American communities. Enrico Moretti and Andres Rodriguez-Pose have analyzed the divergence between thriving cities and left-behind regions, which Katherine Cramer and Arlie Hochschild linked to political resentment. Policy responses include regional investment and housing reform. Geographic inequality remains central to research on development, urban sociology, politics, health, and opportunity.