The constitution of difference: Space and psyche in landscapes of exclusion

Negative reactions to the siting of group homes for persons with disabilities have at their center a public intolerance of ‘difference’. We can better understand these reactions by exploring the connection between the organization of social space and the structure of the psyche. Drawing from psychoanalytic theory, I suggest that because people internalize social norms as a condition for subjective becoming, their own sense of identity is to …