Digitization and Political Conflict Regulations in Rural Areas – Basic Considerations and Empirical Findings from Germany

The designations ‘rural areas’, ‘rural space’, ‘rural regions’ have become as much in need of justification as the designations of their (apparently) urban counterparts. The understandings of spatial units range from essentialist interpretations, to attempts on a positivist basis to delineate regional units, to questions of the social construction of spatial units and their stereotypical evaluation, whereby these practices of spatial production can be subjected to critical questioning. This can also be directed at the digitization of rural areas, which on the one hand enables participation and involvement, but on the other hand makes it more difficult for people who do not have access to digital infrastructures or the symbolic capital that is the basis for the perception of opportunities for involvement. The differentiation of spaces in the wake of the modernization of society, in turn, makes it seem opportune to speak of post-rural, but also post-urban spaces, which are characterized by overlapping developments, ambivalence, and which elude generalistic assessments.