Housing studies have often neglected important areas of debate that affect other social sciences. While there are an increasing number of studies that focus on specific areas such as over-crowding and home-ownership, the development of broader housing concepts has been slow. Jim Kemeny looks at the nature of housing research and focuses on various key debates in social theory and their relation to housing. Looking in particular at three main areas - political science, social change and welfare - he provides a critique of the current methods of theorising. He also presents case studies to illustrate the application of various theories, offering a divergence thesis which uses residence' as a measure of different societies. Covering areas such as privatism, collectivism, urban planning, hegemony, ideology and myth, Jim Kemeny shows that housing is a fundamental dimension of the social structure. By relating housing to the wider issues of social sciences in this way, the author seeks to redefine the boundaries of housing studies. The debate will inspire controversy in students of housing and sociology alike.

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