Space and spatial practice has emerged as one of the key themes in the literature on modernity and postmodernity. Yet few attempts have been made to survey the theoretical terrain of space and modernity. Fewer still have endeavoured to apply this material in the form of concrete analysis. Places on the Margin attempts to correct the balance in three ways. First, it demonstrates the mutual relevance of sociology and geography. Second, it outlines a social theory of spatiality which focuses on the role of the spatial in making up culture. Third, it offers four detailed and penetrating case studies of the role of space in supporting social activities: Brighton and its place image of the Dirty Weekend and the beach riots of Mods and Rockers in the 1960s; the cultural meaning of Niagara Falls; the North-South Divide' in Britain and its role in national myths of British identity; and the Canadian spatialisation of the Far North as the True North Strong and Free' - a zone of purity and otherness where the distinctions upon which civilization is based break down.