Geodemographics, Software and Class

Abstract

This article examines some of the implications for the sociological analysis of social class of the migration of geodemographic classifications of various sorts into software systems designed to ‘sort out’ people and places. It begins by offering an overview of the history and development of geodemographic classifications. It then argues that such classifications are increasingly becoming embedded in ‘soft-ware sorting’ procedures of various sorts, which in turn leads to the prospect of ‘automated spatiality’ becoming a common feature of the contemporary constitution of social class.