著者

山本 茂

出版者

人文地理学会

雑誌

人文地理 (ISSN:00187216)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.40, no.6, pp.529-553, 1988

被引用文献数

1

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The aim of this paper is to discuss the relations of spatial inequality in really existing socialism through critical reconsideration of the previous literature, and to propose some alternative ideas to elabotate the problem.Three approaches were adopted in the present study: First of all, the theoretical aspects of the problem are discussed. Secondly, through analysing the changing regional policies in postwar socialist Poland, the author attempts to make clear whether there existed efficient and consistent regional policies to eliminate the spatial disparities in Poland. Third, the actual conditions of the regional disparities are measured and escribed in the later section of this paper. Finally, the author presents his interpretations on the inequalities under socialism in a spatial context, and proposes to introduce some alternative ideas in order to elaborate the previous discussions on this theme.Regional equality under socialism is defined by saying that every individual in society has to have equal access to economic, social and cultural opportunities, including spatially equal access, within the social, occupational and ethnic groups.Fuchs, R. J. & Demko, G. J.'s paper, focusing on the spatial equality problems under existing socialism, started their discussions from the firm faith that socialism is incompatible with spatial inequality and that regional policies should eliminate regional disparities. Many scholars considered different aspects of this problem using this premise. This common view in recent studies is the object of criticism by the author of this paper, because the ideological bases for equalization are so vague and indefinite and no one has justified the theoretical commitment to the elimination of spatial inequality.Endowments of nature are in themselves an incidential result, and natural resources, land conditions and potentials for development and so on are arbitrarily and unevenly distributed on the earth. As it is still impossible to overcome the factor of economic distance in economic development, under present conditions of economic development, the geographical distribution of economic processes should be uneven for the further development of economy.The spatial structure of national economy in really existing socialism is indeed geographically uneven, and it has a reasonable foundation.Regional policies in socialist Poland have been a part of comprehensive national development strategies. However, they have been inconsistent, and not strong enough to eliminate the regional inequalities, because the principle of economic efficiency was given priority over the principle of regional equality through the process of economic development in the postwar period.According to the Polish experience, the regional disproportions have been firmly diminishing, but the velocity of diminishing regional disparities has been slow and weak under the socialist regional policies. A long range persistence of spatial inequalities has been revealed in spite of the socialist regional policies.The author measured the degree of spatial inequalities in Poland on the basis of official data (Tab. 1, Tab. 3). The exisitence of regional disparities in economic indicators was clarified, and regional differences of economic development reflected on regional resources allocation, location of population and urban centers, exisiting regional structure and so on. However, equalization in living conditions and other social indicators was rather evident. The most important element was the fact that an historical trend of spatial equalization could be clearly observed (Fig. 4, Fig. 5).Three aspects of the spatial inequality problems were examined. As a result, it seems impossible to eliminate spatial inequality in the economic or production context in any social system. Spatial equalization in social processes were however much stronger in Poland.