Heeft de sociale aardrijkskunde een eigen wetenschappelijke conceptie?

Samenvatting

An examination of the place of social geography in the social sciences based on a review of the book De Haarlemmermeer: plattelandsproblemen in de Randstad Holland, Assen, 1955 (The Haarlem Lake: Problems of the Countryside in the Randstad Holland, by C. van Paassen, P. J. W. Kouwe and G. A. Wissink, Assen, the Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 1955). The progress of social geography in the Netherlands is reviewed, with special reference to the work of S. R. Steinmetz and Ter Veen earlier in the cent. While Ter Veen claimed that social geography and its typical product, the 'sociogram,' provided material for other sciences, the authors of the book under review claim for it an autonomous field. This claim is rejected and it is found that 'it is evident that the social geographer cannot avoid using concepts from other scientific disciplines.' Without such use, social geography becomes merely descriptive and cannot, it is claimed, serve as basis for planning. I. Langnas.