Thursday, 17 July 2008

Older people and neighbouring

My wee text on Older people and neighbouring was launched at the House of Commons the other day, with the help of Age Concern England, Community Development Foundation, and the National Association for Neighbourhood Management. Eddie_o_and_j_grogan_appg_jul_08

We were there as guests of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ageing, chaired by Eddie O'Hara MP (pictured here with John Grogan MP) who I knew years ago when he was chair of CDF Trustees. Special thanks to Martin Dudley for these pics.

Thinking about what I had to say on the day, and subsequently reflecting on the comments (especially from Alison Gilchrist, author of The well-connected community, seen here with co-discussant, Chris Gittins of Streets Alive) makes me think that perhaps the book's sub-title - 'an enfolding community' - is the idea that resonates  most strongly with people. Chris_g_and_alison_g_appg_jul_08

The work I did for the book clarified the extent to which older people tend to experience neighbouring as individualised, in contrast to the kind of 'enfolding' collective experience of neighbourliness that seems to have characterised their childhoods. In the narratives of decline so often recited on this theme, we have to take account of the remarkable stability in the early lives of that generation - childhoods described by dutch researcher Pearl Dykstra as characterised by the greatest uniformity ever. The rapid social changes that took place since those childhoods help to account for the sense of bewilderment and tendency to withdraw.

But of course this doesn't help us work out what is needed in policy or practice terms. I'm about to rush off to give a presentation to a Young Foundation seminar, as part of their Neighbourhood Action Network, where I'm hoping we'll start to develop some clearer practical ideas about how to stimulate neighbouring. More soon.

17 Jul 2008 11:10:53 | Cohesion and diversity, Neighbourhood relations, Social policy

2 Comments

Hi Kevin,

This is a subject of interest. Do you happen to have a numeric version of this publication ? I would even be willing to pay for it, since it should be cheaper (no paper, no transport...) !

Posted by: Gilles | Monday, 21 July 2008 at 21:23

Tis well-begged Gilles, I shall have a word with the publisher.
k

Posted by: kevin harris | Monday, 21 July 2008 at 22:22

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Place and limitation: on death at home When my old mum died my brothers and sister and I all felt very lucky to get her home from the hospital for the last day or two. As she lay unconscious, gradually detaching herself from her pain, people gathered from the neighbourhood and from further afield, the house filled with good-natured, spirited conversation, laughter and solidarity and many compassionate moments. Now the government is to make it easier for individuals to bring about their own preferences around end of life care, and this is to be welcomed. Paul Cann, quoted here in a Guardian article, said: 'For far too long, there has been a presumption that death should be at the convenience of the system, as opposed to respecting the individual wishes of those who are approaching their final days.' It means people are more likely to be able to choose to be at home in their own neighbourhood when they die. It helps restore the missing sense of place and limitation.
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Why promote neighbouring? (Updated) Yesterday I was having a conversation about neighbourliness with local government officers and others, at a Young Foundation seminar. One of the fundamental questions was, of course, why would you want to invest in neighbourliness? What's the point in publicly funded agencies putting resources into finding ways of promoting civil relations between fellow residents? I've suggested the bullet-point response to this in various places. Yesterday I put forward just one - the establishment and defense of norms of behaviour - since I wanted participants to come up with others. I remember when I was asked to look at neighbourliness in Manchester a few years ago, one or two councillors felt it could be the key where they had a problem of antisocial behaviour among young people as a result of social norms not being passed on, or being tested and not re-asserted. That doesn't necessarily mean that we know you can make a difference by promoting neighbourliness rather than, say, investing in locks and gates and fences and cameras. But just to remind us that the problem does exist, and to an extent seldom seen before, here's a BBC report this afternoon: Two police officers are on sick leave after being attacked by a mob in south London after they asked a 15-year-old girl to pick up her litter. One officer was dragged to the ground and kicked while the other was bitten by a girl who jumped on his back. Up to 30 people took part in the attack, which happened in North End, Croydon, on Wednesday afternoon. Trouble flared when the 15-year-old threw her food wrapper back on to the ground and became aggressive. It bothers me because I'm the sort of bloke who thinks dropping litter is inconsiderate and uncivil, and from time to time I'll say to someone 'excuse me, you've dropped something.' For sure, there's nothing new about littering and in this respect I don't believe young people are as bad as the generations before them. But how can we have a society where a violent response to a civil request, from officers or citizens, is anything but unacceptable? Neighbouring implies at the very least a modest recognition of the concerns of others, and so does helping to minimise disorder. If children and young people don't learn and test such norms in the neighbourhood, and in community events under the eye of known adults, where are they going to learn them? Postscript: I'm reminded that research into people's readiness to intervene, reported by Hackler et al, suggests that norms have to be held 'nearly universally', otherwise they're likely to be ineffective (Social problems, 1974: 335). No wonder we got problems.

Kevin Harris

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