Placing home in context

The concept of home has been the focus of three decades of research within environmental psychology. Despite this awareness, there has been a lack of 'critical or innovative theories and methods' to examine home. In recent ye ars, there has been a call for a reappraisal of the concept. Broadly, previous discussions of the concept of home within psychology have tended to focus more on the experiential and personal aspects of home than the social and cultural aspects. Until recently, sociological discussions have tended to ignore the experiential significance of home, The aim of thi s paper is to broaden the current debate on home within environmental psych ology by examining key themes in the social science literature on home. It argues that there is a movement away from identifying core sites of meaning , towards a context-sensitive focus on the experience and use of home. (C) 2000 Academic Press.