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 cha',ge 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.
