Durkheim’s Contributions to Social Anthropology in L’Année Sociologique

Abstract

binary may reinforce a ‘‘sloppy reverse essentialism’’ that glosses over the tremendous diversity of southern cities (p. 61). As he thoughtfully observes, the South—and the southern city—is not a ‘‘homogeneous space or a stable ontological category’’ (p. 63). In turn, Murray usefully problematizes the conventional distinction between northern and southern cities, arguing that the borders that supposedly separate them are ‘‘inherently unstable, porous, mutable, and often indecipherable’’ (p. 62). In addition to this concern with cities beyond the core, Many Urbanisms also seeks to advance the scope of global-city theorizing by pushing for the incorporation into this framework of oft-overlooked urban spaces with less legitimate ‘‘world-class aspirations’’: that is, cities that are commonly referred to as ‘‘shrinking,’’ ‘‘declining,’’ and ‘‘noncompetitive’’ (pp. 91–125). As argued, ‘‘urban shrinkage’’ is a widespread (yet undertheorized) phenomenon, and one that affects large numbers of cities not only in postindustrial regions in North America and Europe, but also in Japan, India, South Africa, and beyond—with potentially more than a quarter of all cities around the world fitting into this category during the last decade of the twentieth century (pp. 102– 108). In addition to arguing for appreciation of the diverse forces that may cause decline, Murray argues against the scholarly tendency to view declining cities as ‘‘aberrations’’ vis-à-vis their booming and seemingly more global counterparts. Instead, as he notes, ‘‘Decline . . . is part of the inherent unevenness of capitalist investment in urban space’’ (p. 110). It is also a major cause of our current age of illiberal, anti-democratic tumult, a topic that goes unexplored here. Much of the text is devoted to elaborating this and three other categories of global cities, the latter consisting of the aforementioned ‘‘globalizing cities with world-class aspirations’’ (again, consisting of the usual success cases), ‘‘sprawling megacites of hypergrowth’’ (mostly located in the global South), and recent cases of ‘‘instant urbanism’’ (including Dubai and Doha—which would also seem to fit into the ‘‘world-class’’ category). While the four categories are distinct in numerous ways, Murray also convincingly argues that they are interrelated insofar as they represent, per the subtitle, ‘‘divergent trajectories of global city building.’’ Whatever one makes of this categorization scheme—and given his attention to nuance, Murray stresses that it is only a ‘‘first approximation’’ (p. 65)—there is clearly value to his effort to situate the particularities of distinct cases and types vis-à-vis a broader, universal story in which all cities must navigate the structural exigencies of our global age (though here, a deeper focus on how, exactly, global capitalism produces ‘‘unevenness’’ in terms of outcomes would be welcome). Readers who seek solutions will not find many here, and there is indeed something deterministic about the argument that ‘‘shrinkage’’ is a ‘‘permanent, irreversible condition’’ (p. 99). One wonders, also, how actors on the ground—perhaps with scholarly assistance—could find a way out of the ceaseless game of jockeying for positions in the global-city hierarchy. Nonetheless, as a context-sensitive work that helpfully reviews and critiques the state of globalcity theorizing, and offers a nuanced path forward that both incorporates and shows the interconnections between disparate urban realities, this will be a highly useful text for scholars and advanced students alike.