The Social Atlas of Europe

by Dimitris Ballas, Danny Dorling, Benjamin Hennig

Overview

CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE 2015 Many of us think of European countries as discreet entities—their own languages, cultures, food, and economies squarely contained within their national boundaries. But in fact Europe is at once a unified place and a sophisticatedly fragmented one, and national boundaries rarely reflect its social and economic realities. The social atlas of Europe is the first atlas to map Europe according to these realities, from the perspective of human geography rather than simply a political one. Using innovative full-color visualization methods, it reconsiders European identity through its many different facets: economy, culture, history, and human and physical geography, visualizing Europe and its people in a more fluid way, in some cases using maps without artificial national boundaries. It utilizes the latest available demographic, social, and economic data through state-of-the-art geographical information systems and new cartography techniques. Through these new visualizations, this highly illustrated book offers fresh perspectives on a range of topics, including social values, culture, education, employment, environmental footprints, health and well-being, and social inequalities and cohesion. It is a bold rethinking of Europe as we know it and will be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the continent in its truest form.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447313533
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2014
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dimitris Ballas is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Sheffield. He has published widely in the field of Geoinformatics in the Social Sciences. Danny Dorling is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oxford. His recent books include The 32 Stops: Lives on London’s Central Line and Bankrupt Britain: An Atlas of Social Change Benjamin D. Hennig is a geographer who loves maps. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and maintains the website www.viewsoftheworld.net

Table of Contents

Introduction; Identity and Culture; Demography; Education; Employment; Industry and Occupation; Health; Politics; Economy; Environment; Social Cohesion; Policy; Conclusions.

What People are Saying About This

Philip McCann

“The Social Atlas of Europe is an ideal resource to get a sense of national, regional, and spatial differences and similarities across many varied aspects of modern life.” 

Menno-Jan Kraak

“The authors’ innovative use of the cartogram reveals a unique and hitherto unknown view of Europe which will be of wide interest.” 

Robert B. Reich

“An insightful look at today’s Europe —not through the artifices of geographic boundaries or gross national products, but through the underlying realities that Europeans live every day—their understandings, attitudes, and well-being—all brought to life in charts and maps that reveal the human geography of this vitally important area of the world.”

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

“Institutions are increasingly acknowledged as key shapers of the economic health and social well-being of individuals and territories alike. Yet our knowledge about how culture, history, and human and physical geography shape our destiny remains highly imperfect. The Social Atlas of Europe  uses new and imaginative cartographic techniques in order to fill in this gap. A must for social scientists and decision makers wanting to have a better understanding of the institutional forces that unite and divide Europeans.

From the Publisher

“An insightful look at today's Europe — not through the artifices of geographic boundaries or gross national products, but through the underlying realities that Europeans live every day - their understandings, attitudes, and well-being - all brought to life in charts and maps that reveal the human geography of this vitally important area of the world.” Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley

"A striking visual map of a dynamic and rapidly evolving Europe." Choice

"The authors’ innovative use of the cartogram reveals a unique and hitherto unknown view of Europe which will be of wide interest." Professor Dr Menno-Jan Kraak, University of Twente, Netherlands

“A work of and for the decade, The Social Atlas of Europe sets out to explore European identity through the social realities experienced by Europeans.” LSE Review of Books

"A must for social scientists and decision-makers wanting to have a better understanding of the institutional forces that unite and divide Europeans.” Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, London School of Economics and President-elect of the Regional Science Association International.

Howard S. Becker

“The authors have used a fascinating body of techniques to display social data geographically. The results are startling and compelling, furnishing a model for everyone who does this kind of work from now on.”

Manos Matsaganis

“Simply browsing this Social Atlas of Europe is an exhilarating experience for the lay reader: unfailingly informative, sometimes intriguing, and always entertaining. A triumph of human geography and human cartography!”

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose

“Institutions are increasingly acknowledged as key shapers of the economic health and social well-being of individuals and territories alike. Yet our knowledge about how culture, history, and human and physical geography shape our destiny remains highly imperfect. The Social Atlas of Europe  uses new and imaginative cartographic techniques in order to fill in this gap. A must for social scientists and decision makers wanting to have a better understanding of the institutional forces that unite and divide Europeans.”

Editorial Reviews

Simply browsing this Social Atlas of Europe is an exhilarating experience for the lay reader: unfailingly informative, sometimes intriguing, and always entertaining. A triumph of human geography and human cartography!” Manos Matsaganis, Polytechnic University of Milan

“Once again this innovative group of academics open our eyes to something hidden in plain sight. This time, with refreshing accessibility, it is the way we see Europe. A must read!” Mary O’Hara, journalist and Fulbright scholar

"Using two base maps which resize first EU Member States and their neighbours, this innovative new book succeeds in graphically representing statistics and survey answers such as 'Youth unemployment' and 'Democracy: is it the best political system?'" TUC Education European Review

From the Publisher

By combining a human geography perspective with graphic representation, The Social Atlas of Europe sets out to explore European identity through the social realities experienced by Europeans. . . . This is truly a work of and for the decade. Content aside, it is a beautiful book whose glossy pages, and full-colour visualisations make it a pleasure to dip into time and time again. It should speak to social scientists from all disciplines and at all levels of study, but perhaps particularly to a new generation of students reared on visual information sources.

LSE Review of Books - Patricia Hogwood

Combines human geography and human cartography to shed light on contemporary Europe in an innovative way. . . . At the center of the study are cartograms: maps based not on land scale but founded instead on statistical and demographic data. . . . The maps are clearly the star here. The overall effect is of a series of vignettes that breaks down national stereotypes. Indeed, the authors indicate that they seek to promote a pan-European ideal, claiming that ‘old nationalisms can appear a little ridiculous when they are viewed dispassionately.’ The book also boasts any number of fascinating and surprising nuggets of information. . . . A striking visual map of a dynamic and rapidly evolving Europe. Highly recommended.

Choice - J. Millhorn

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Awards

Choice Magazine:

Won

Choice Magazine: CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Awards

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Awards

Choice Magazine:

Institutions are increasingly acknowledged as key shapers of the economic health and social well-being of individuals and territories alike. Yet our knowledge about how culture, history, and human and physical geography shape our destiny remains highly imperfect. The Social Atlas of Europe  uses new and imaginative cartographic techniques in order to fill in this gap. A must for social scientists and decision makers wanting to have a better understanding of the institutional forces that unite and divide Europeans.

Andres Rodriguez-Pose

“Simply browsing this Social Atlas of Europe is an exhilarating experience for the lay reader: unfailingly informative, sometimes intriguing, and always entertaining. A triumph of human geography and human cartography!”

Manos Matsaganis

“The authors’ innovative use of the cartogram reveals a unique and hitherto unknown view of Europe which will be of wide interest.” 

Menno-Jan Kraak

“The Social Atlas of Europe is an ideal resource to get a sense of national, regional, and spatial differences and similarities across many varied aspects of modern life.” 

Philip McCann

“The authors have used a fascinating body of techniques to display social data geographically. The results are startling and compelling, furnishing a model for everyone who does this kind of work from now on.

Howard S. Becker

“An insightful look at today’s Europe —not through the artifices of geographic boundaries or gross national products, but through the underlying realities that Europeans live every day—their understandings, attitudes, and well-being—all brought to life in charts and maps that reveal the human geography of this vitally important area of the world.

Robert B. Reich

11/01/2014
Ballas (geography, Univ. of Sheffield; Geography Matters), Danny Dorling (human geography, Univ. of Oxford; The 32 Stops), and Benjamin D. Hennig (Univ. of Oxford; viewsoftheworld.net) have collaborated to tell the "cartographic story of contemporary Europe, adopting a new visual approach to exploring European human geography and identity." Here "Europe" is defined as all European countries west of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova, while including Turkey. They present an astonishingly wide range of demographic data covering more than 175 topics using descriptive text, full-color maps, and some bar graphs in the introduction and general subject categories: "Identity and Culture," "Demographics," "Education," "Employment," "Industry and Occupation," "Health," "Politics," "Economics," "Environment," "Social Cohesion," and "Policy." Most of the "maps" are actually Gaster-Newman algorithmic cartograms that distort national boundaries to reflect the data. With a descriptive topical title and the appropriate key, traditional thematic area maps have been readily intelligible even without descriptive text. Owing to varying degrees of distortion, that is not always the case with these cartograms, especially those including regional/urban data. VERDICT Despite concerns for the efficacy of many of the cartograms, this fascinating and original survey is definitely recommended for anyone, scholar or general reader, interested in the human geography of present-day Europe.—Edward K. Werner, St. Lucie Cty. Lib. Syst., Ft. Pierce, FL

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