Understanding social and spatial divisions in the new economy: new media clusters and the digital divide

Abstract

Economic inequality is increasing but has been sidelined in some of the recent debates in urban and regional studies. This article outlines a holistic framework for economic geography, which focuses on understanding social and spatial divisions, by drawing on economists' ideas about the new economy and feminist perspectives on social reproduction. The framework is illustrated with reference to the emerging new media cluster in Brighton and Hove, which, as a consequence, emerges less as a new technology cluster and more as a reflection of increasing social divisions in the new economy