sociotope

English

Etymology

From socio- +‎ -tope; compare German Soziotop.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊʃiə(ʊ)ˌtəʊp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsoʊʃiəˌtoʊp/, /ˈsoʊʃioʊˌtoʊp/

Noun

sociotope (plural sociotopes)

1. A geographical area that has a uniform social environment.
   • 1993, Johan Galtung, “Development Theory”, in David Rothenberg, Peter Reed, editors, Wisdom in the Open Air:The Norwegian Roots of Deep Ecology‎^[1], page 202:

     Let us further assume a Chinese boxes logic again: the world space is an extremely rich sociotope, in interaction so far with no other sociotope, and all the others are nested within.

   • 2006, Alexander Ståhle, “Sociotope mapping – exploring public open space and its multiple use values in urban and landscape planning practice”, in Nordic Journal of Architectural Research‎^[2], volume 19, number 4, page 63:

     The Leisure and Nature Administration at the municipality initiated a sociotope mapping project to collect knowledge in the open space use values.

   • 2020 September 24, Patrick Beuth et al., “QAnon's Inexorable Spread Beyond the U.S.”, in Spiegel International‎^[3], page 63:

     Diaz is an avowed fan of Donald Trump and emerged from the large sociotope of right-wing radio hosts in the U.S.

Related terms

• biotope