On Social Space

The issue of space is fundamental for human survival and development. Space is not only the objective reality of nature, but also the object and product of human practices. The significance to understand and reflect the issue of space lies in studying the physical nature of spatial reality from the perspective of natural science, as well as exists in researching the human nature and social nature of space from the view of social science. In essence, space is divided into two different forms by the intervention of human practice, namely, natural space and social space. For a long time, people have concerned about natural space much more than social space. However, the emergence of modernity has highlighted the important role of social space. As a result, the in-depth exploration and research on social space has become a hot topic in today's circle of social science.Most of the previous researchers tended to study the issue of space from different disciplines, lacking the premise to define and use the term of "space". The obscurity of the concept of "space" inevitably leads to the confusion of understanding. In this sense, it is hard to identify the true differences among and real natures of various types of space. In order to clarify the distinctions between different spaces, as well as to reveal the dizzying discourse logic of various space theories, this paper will attempt to examine the relationships between space and its expressions, trace the evolution of the Chinese and Western language origins of the term of "space", and thus to shed a light on the semantic usage of "space". On this basis, this paper will systematically sort out the development of the Western space theories, analyzing the four phases of their evolution:ontology, subject-body, scientism and cultural symbol. Finally, the research limitations and theoretical outlet of the Western space theories will be pointed out.In recent years, a wave of studying "social space" has raised both at home and abroad. However, the connotation of "social space" is defined in different opinions. People with different disciplinary background use the concept of "social space" in different sense. This paper creatively points out the distinction between the concept of "social space" and the theory of "society-space". Moreover, from the standpoint of Marxism, this paper defines social space as the product of human practice, suggesting that social space is composed of two parts:material social space and spiritual social space, which have five basic characteristics:practicality, duality, diversity, hierarchy and valuableness.Practice is the only resource for social space to be generated under the premise of natural space. In this course of being produced from practice, social space will be limited by a series of factors. Specifically, social space is generated from the interrelated and mutual influential effects among the perceptual activity, production mode, ideology, cultural form, social communication and everyday life. Perceptual activity is the foundation to generate social space. Production mode is the driving force for the changes of social space. Ideology is the norm to form social space. Cultural form is the root to present social space. Social communication is the means to expand social space. Everyday life is the incentive to adjust social space. In the evolution of social history, social space changes its form of practice constantly.The form and style of social space can be analyzed from two basic dimensions: synchronism and diachronism. On one hand, the change of social formation is historically and logically consistent with the evolution of spatial forms. On the other hand, the spatial form in a specific social formation is limited and shaped by the living condition in the sense of synchronism. From the view of four social development modes:primitive society, agricultural society, industrial society and information society, we can overview all the spaces in the whole evolution process of human social formation. It is not only conducive to trace the historical origin of the formation and development of social space, but also beneficial to diagnosis and cure the space syndrome of social transformations, which is triggered by the popularity of modernity.The production of material social space and spiritual social space in modern society is basically under the control of capital. The aim of critically examining the current status of social space from the post-modernism position is to construct an ideal social space. A vision for a social space in the future must be based on the social reality and its development trend in the current era. Only review the history and look into the future can establish a reasonable and possible social space in the unity of ideal and reality.