The urban question

Manuel Castells' classic returns to bookstores.

The urban question reveals the ideology produced by the ruling class, which seeks to conceal domination and exploitation, the unequal distribution of public services, and collective consumption facilities. It distances itself from the empiricism with which social struggles surrounding cities are typically treated and opens the possibility of concrete sociological analyses of public policies and urban planning. It addresses topics such as the construction of cities determined by the inflexible logic of capital accumulation, urban policies, and the forms of struggle workers have found to confront state power in depth—and with a historical approach.

“No urban library can be considered complete without this book.” - Choice

“This is an extremely rich and stimulating work, with detailed statistical analyses and case studies to support the theoretical arguments.” - Sociology Review of New Books

“By combining a Marxist perspective with the methodology of positivist sociology, Manuel Castells has written an important book that presents a serious challenge to many of the supporters of apolitical urban sociology [...].” - Raymond Bradley, University of Minnesota