On superficial neighbourhood relations

From time to time I argue that 'shallow' informal interactions, such as simple gestures of recognition at neighbourhood level, are more significant in terms of social capital than is generally recognised.

I raised this recently in relation to the CLG guidance on 'meaningful social interaction,' which argues that for social interaction to be 'meaningful' it needs to go beyond a superficial level and to be sustained. My view is that yes it makes a difference if it's sustained, but 'superficial' does not mean trivial. Superficial is good.

Now I'm just catching up with a paper in BMJ last month about happiness and social networks, which got quite a bit of publicity for its finding that happiness is 'contagious'. The researchers looked at 20 years of data from the Framingham heart study in Massachussetts and found that:

People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected.

This includes close neighbours, but apparently next door neighbours have a much stronger influence than neighbours who live a few doors down in the same neighbourhood. The researchers observe:

the strong influence of neighbours suggests that the spread of happiness might depend more on frequent social contact than deep social connections.

So let's take that as a tentative endorsement. More evidence needed of course.

And behind all this are the challenges of defining (without solidfying) what we're talking about. A few weeks ago I was questioning some of the assumptions about definitions of 'belonging' in the methodologically-creaky Changing UK research, and perhaps there are comparable dangers in assumptions about 'happiness'. One commentator on the BMJ paper observes:

Happiness research that attempts to find generalisations about happiness...  will not challenge inherent assumptions about what makes people happy, what is happiness, and who is happy in society or indeed, as Anthony Storr suggests, who is 'happy alone!'

Comments

[bob yoder]

Mr. Harris - your blog and research on neighborhoods is extraordinary. I've just posted a story on your blog and specifically posted your last research article on superficial neighborhoods. I hope that's okay. I gave you full credit and link. "Neighbourhoods" is on my blog roll. I author The Redmond Neighborhood Blog. It is #1 in Google searches for "neighborhood blog" and "neighborhood blogs", but "redmond blog" is probably best. I hope you'll take a look.

The City of Redmond reads my blog everyday. You work will be appreciated.

Thank you,
Bob Yoder
10019 169th AVE NE
Redmond, WA. 98052
425-881-5055
http://redmondblog.org/

[Kevin Harris]

Hi Bob - thanks for these very kind words. I was aware of your blog and I look across from time to time - keep up the great work.

NB I changed the link on your comment so that it points to your blog rather than to the city site - I trust you're comfortable with that!
k

[Jim]

Jane Jacobs devotes an excellent chapter of 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities' to discussing the importance of 'shallow' interactions to the health and security of a neighbourhood. Definitely worth reading if you haven't already.