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The Borders Within

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Geographic divisions that exist internally within countries – ‘the borders within’ – can be seen in how much people earn and levels of economic growth, as well as in health and educational outcomes...
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  • 01 December 2026
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Geographic divisions that exist internally within countries – ‘the borders within’ – can be seen in how much people earn and levels of economic growth, as well as in health and educational outcomes.

With fresh thinking, this book explores what lies beneath these geographic divisions and what maintains them. Its novel framework shows how different social class groups derive radically different meanings from place that heighten geographic divisions.

Drawing on research with over 200 young people across 17 different UK localities, this book challenges orthodox policy understandings of regional development, putting forward an alternative starting point for how we address borders within countries.

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Price: $41.95
Pages: 206
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Imprint: Policy Press
Publication Date: 01 December 2026
ISBN: 9781447369073
Format: Paperback
BISACs: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Regional Studies, Central / national / federal government policies, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Regional / International studies, Human geography, Social discrimination and social justice, Social classes, Age groups: children
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“This is a book of significant importance. Based on 200 interviews with young people across the UK, it attests to the profound weightiness of geographical differences in their lives.” Johanna L. Waters, University College London
Michael Donnelly is Professor of Education and Social Policy at the University of Bath and leads the Education, Work and Social Change research group.

1. Introduction

2. The problem of geographic divisions

3. Knowing a place

4. Places worth knowing

5. People worth knowing

6. Place is positional

7. Place is person-centred

8. The flawed logics of regional development

9. Growing local economies

10. Educational fixes?

11. Dismantling the borders within