Life within the Wall and Implications for Those Outside It: Gated Communities in Malaysia and Ghana

Obeng-Odoom, F; Eltayeb ElHadary, YA; Jang, HS

Life within the Wall and Implications for Those Outside It: Gated Communities in Malaysia and Ghana

Obeng-Odoom, F

Eltayeb ElHadary, YA Jang, HS

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2014, 49 (5), pp. 544 - 558
Issue Date:: 2014-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Obeng-Odoom, F https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3997-7751	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Eltayeb ElHadary, YA	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Jang, HS	en_US
dc.date.issued	2014-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2014, 49 (5), pp. 544 - 558	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0021-9096	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/30287
dc.description.abstract	© The Author(s) 2013. The North American scholarship on gated housing communities posits the desire for security as the main driver for gating, but does this hold true for less wealthy countries? To address this question, this study examines evidence of why people live behind gates in Malaysia and Ghana and investigates the socio-economic implications of gating. It uses a critical institutional framework anchored on Foucault’s interpretation of ‘panopticon’ and Runciman’s theory of relative deprivation, while drawing empirical evidence from surveys and emic experiences. It finds that, while security is an important reason, it is the provision of quality housing services that is reported as the single most important reason for living behind gates. ‘Quality service’ is, however, shorthand for a preference for privileged status. Further, the paper reveals that it is more helpful to see the binary between quality and security as constituting a flexible continuum of motives. Inhabitants of gated housing communities may be primarily motivated by quality service or prestige. Yet, as they set themselves up against the rest of society by enclosing themselves in walls of affluence, they begin to feel a need for greater security. This feeling of insecurity is heightened as people outside the gates feel relatively deprived. Thus, the desire for security becomes illusory and attainment of privilege, pyrrhic, while the harsh socio-economic conditions for a large stratum of the urban population living outside the gates persist and are sometimes worsened.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Asian and African Studies	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0021909613495649	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Cultural Studies	en_US
dc.title	Life within the Wall and Implications for Those Outside It: Gated Communities in Malaysia and Ghana	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	5	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	49	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	1601 Anthropology	en_US
utslib.for	1402 Applied Economics	en_US
dc.location.activity	UK
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Built Environment
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CCDP - Contemporary Design Practice
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	5	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	49	en_US

Abstract:

© The Author(s) 2013. The North American scholarship on gated housing communities posits the desire for security as the main driver for gating, but does this hold true for less wealthy countries? To address this question, this study examines evidence of why people live behind gates in Malaysia and Ghana and investigates the socio-economic implications of gating. It uses a critical institutional framework anchored on Foucault’s interpretation of ‘panopticon’ and Runciman’s theory of relative deprivation, while drawing empirical evidence from surveys and emic experiences. It finds that, while security is an important reason, it is the provision of quality housing services that is reported as the single most important reason for living behind gates. ‘Quality service’ is, however, shorthand for a preference for privileged status. Further, the paper reveals that it is more helpful to see the binary between quality and security as constituting a flexible continuum of motives. Inhabitants of gated housing communities may be primarily motivated by quality service or prestige. Yet, as they set themselves up against the rest of society by enclosing themselves in walls of affluence, they begin to feel a need for greater security. This feeling of insecurity is heightened as people outside the gates feel relatively deprived. Thus, the desire for security becomes illusory and attainment of privilege, pyrrhic, while the harsh socio-economic conditions for a large stratum of the urban population living outside the gates persist and are sometimes worsened.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/30287