Community and Lifestyles
We hear much of the social changes taking place across the nation. People are coming together with fewer restrictions on who lives where. With some exceptions, most small American communities find a class structure which is becoming more fluid. Both families and individuals are becoming more mobile-both up and down. Mobility in the smaller town is open for all to see, and although change is taking place, it still follows some patterns of yesteryear where "everybody knows everybody's place." Economic status still relates strongly to social status.
The Small Town
The system of position and class which governs American life is readily noticed in the town of only a few hundred population or perhaps up to 6,000 inhabitants. Here one notices the subtle interplay of education, money, profession, club membership, and business associations that mold the social pyramid. Although the distinctions between old families and new families is breaking down, some l'esiduals remain. We still tend to put people into low, middle, and upper classes; but as one behavioral scientist put it, "Upward mobility in the community is much easier than it was back in the fifties." The distinctions between white-collar and blue-collar are breaking down. What a person can do is having more influence on onc's community position than was true a few decades ago where position was largely ascribed to him by family connections.
One thing the person has who lives in the small town, or, of course, in a rural community, is a large amount of physical space. There is little in the way of traffic congestion in gning to work. going to school, shopping, and dropping in unannounced on a neighbor. Community organizations are more on a personal basis where individual needs often tie in closely with community needs.
There are, of course, some negative aspects related to the life-style choices of being in an uncrowded community. Although space gives us more freedom of movement, and in some ways a large measure of privacy, living in a small community can change some aspects of the life-style we may prefer to live. We cannot hope for much anonymity. Our private living in Peyton Place is more open for all to see than it might otherwise be in suburbia or in the city. Choices of jobs for young people, and even for a variety of people to associate with, are often Jimited in the small town. While some people may prefer the slower-paced, more leisurely life-style of the smaller community, others may feel a need for just the opposite. In some measure effective adjustment for the individual relates to matching his understandings, skills, and desires to the opportunities which a given community provides.
Living In the Suburb
Descriptions of the suburb range from the "bedroom community and "patches of green grass" to the "end of the traffic jam" where "children can be raised in more freedom." The community climate of the suburb Is determined largely by economics. Since people at the
same income levels tend to congregate together, the range of lifestyles from rich to poor does not exist. The curve has been smoothed out; there is a great deal of sameness. Thus, some communities are made up almost exclusively of families with children; others may be retirement communities with no children.
One suburb may exhibit material abundance, the dream community where many aspire to live in a style of luxury. Another may provide a life-style where the conspicuous display of money is frowned upon. Even in a single neighborhood, an item which is quite acceptable on one block might be regarded as flagrant showing off on another. True, the suburb is filled with problems and conflicts, as is any other community, but here the family may have a little more control over its life-style than one might find elsewhere. Many suburbs have become a melting pot of people with a variety of interests and backgrounds. As a growing pattern of commt:nity living, suburbia is helping to set its own life-style.
What may be a threat to onz community, such as the moving in of a minority group, may prove to an asset to another. Racial or ethnic discrimination and social or economic stratification, with their related fears and resentments, help determine community patterns. The community not only contributes to the securit".or insecurity of the individual, but is a place where behaviors can be manifested through informal organizations.
The Urban Community
Many people born in a city tend to live in a city all their lives. In fact, statistical data from long-distance movers show that most people move from one urban area to another or into a city for the first time. Life-styles in the large city are many and varied. With the exception of downtown luxury apartments most sections of a city are composed of many middle-income to poor neighborhoods of varying ethnic makeup. In other words, there is no single city life-style. Neighborhoods provide the life-style; thus, the city should not be evaluated entirely on the basis of size but also on who lives where.
There are neighborhoods where people of different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds "mix" and others where people "do not mix." There are neighborhoods where people are not only close physically but also close in terms of common behavior and attitude. Then there is the more spread-out neighborhood where one sees only acquaintances, with friends scattered over a wide area. We speak of "good" and "bad" neighborhoods in general terms, and for some this may be all they wish to know. It mayor may liot indicate something about the positive and negative aspects of life-styles. It is somewhat like oversimplifying the classification of schools as either "superior" or "asphalt jungle." We may even tend to ignore the ·possibilities of "in-betweens." Some people with a framework of middle-class values may tend to view life in the urban slum in negative terms. Yet there are those who live in slums who say they like many aspects of their way of life.
Studies indicate that some people resist being dispos~essed from their slum dwellings even though a new environment may be "better." For some there is a feeling of belongingness that extends beyond the dwelling unit itself. The urban slum community has much in common with communities observed in old cultures where there are interpersonal kinship ties. Local friendships grow in importance with long-term residence. The street, local bars, and grocery stores serve as points of contact for communication. Social life in the slum has a flow between living quarters and the street.
View of a Life-Style. Whether we live in a rural section or small town, in a suburb or a city' neighborhood, our perception of life-style relates to w4at we are used to. Some of us may want to maintain our present style, in part or in whole, and some of us may want change. An affluent life-style, attractive to milny in theory may become a trap to someone caught up in it. There may well be strong family ties in poverty, and a feeling of neighborhood belongingness, which we wish to hold onto. This perception of values may cause the slum dweller to resent the interference of the well-meaning but often wrongheaded "do-gooder" who sees only the harmful effects of poverty and wishes to change them. Yet, the environment itself exerts an influence on the life-style of each of us. This is exemplified in the urban setting,. which has been studied extensively and which has its effects on most of us, regardless of where we live. Change abounds; there appears to be no status quo.
