How Every Little Local Social Interaction Counts

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Permalink Reply by Liz on January 22, 2009 at 16:22

This makes interesting reading and so much of it commonsense.
At the risk of sounding like a real old fogey (oh well, what's new?) what happened to our society (and when) that meant we stopped doing or simply forgot the basics?

Whether it was saying good morning to our neighbours, reading a bedtime story to your children or kids skipping in the playground (or any of the other things that the govmnt issues reports on), all these things seemed as fundamental to my early life as breathing. This isn't some harking back to a better time - I grew up in the 70s and 80s which were a grim pair of decades for many reasons and I'd hate to go back to many aspects of those days.
Any historians of modern social history out there that can explain how we forgot that neighbourhoods matter?

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Permalink Reply by matt on January 22, 2009 at 18:03

Our neighbours often move on don't they, or we do. It takes time to get to know people. People don't stay put as much any more. They want to be social mobile; get a better house, move up that career ladder by getting a new job or maybe they're always on contracts that take them all over the country/globe.

Relaxed immigration laws (for some) and technology have played a big part in making it easier for people to move not just county to county, but country to country. They stay for a while and move on again, chasing a better life. London is full of people like this.

People also have 24hr internet and TV for inside entertainment. Cars are more comfortable, faster, so a visit to friends in the weekend out in the country is easier. The neighbour doesn't have to be part of the picture?

I've lived in our road 8 years. It does take time to get to know those neighbours that stay. The others that move on every 2 years aren't particularly interested in the neighbourhood. One maisonette across the road has had 4 or 5 different owners in that time!

But it's not easy to answer your question Liz. There are so many factors.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on January 22, 2009 at 18:52

Trying to remember some of the ways that my parents interacted with neighbours, and one of the things that comes back to me is that my mother's shopping used to take two hours sometimes, not because we were along way from the shops (2 mins walk at most) but because the neighbours used local shops and met each other there. The local butchers, chemists or whatever was a place for people to chat as they queued. The roads outside were also places to see people. I guess driving to a supermarket for shopping isn't so social.
Using local public transport as we had to do meant meeting people too. I don't recall my parents being members of clubs or groups but they knew everyone in their immediate neighbourhood. My grandparents were the same on their estate...I got away with absolutely nothing because the adults would report back to each other what we kids were doing :)

I think you are right, Matt, that people may feel they have to 'invest' time in a neighbourhood if they have aspirations to move up, or a job that moves them about but I don't think they do themselves any favours. The report suggests that even 'banal' (as they term it) interactions such as saying good morning or commenting on the weather are valuable, so it does no harm to say hello.

I don't want to hark back to a lost age because I don't believe in Golden Ages (and this one has much to commend it), but I do wonder if there are factors that changed the way we interacted and whether those factors undermine all these wonderful reports.

I'm sure you are right Matt that there are many things at play here and was just inviting a little idle speculation on what they might be...

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Permalink Reply by matt on January 22, 2009 at 19:12

Supermarkets, as oppose to local shopping, is a very good example that you give Liz.

We all use supermarkets because laws, markets, financial power and globalisation have allowed these companies that run the supermarkets to grow and grow. Our local Sainsbury's offers about 20,000 different lines of products. A huge choice under one roof that makes it the convenient option. We vote with our feet.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on January 22, 2009 at 19:43

You're right about networks Anne. Seems liek an off miss because I know there is great support in DCLG. But I think what happens is someone in that bot of the department over there commissions someone else to do a report and if it's not on that person's particular agenda.....

Good in some ways not to have one might Departmental voice, but somewhat disjointed too.

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Permalink Reply by Liz on January 22, 2009 at 21:14

No no I'm not trying to be negative. Clearly community interaction thrives in certain places.

The school gate for example is a place where many chat, connect spontaneously. I do shop on the high street and have chats with people in the shops. I also believe people on the whole value the daily interaction with neighbours, even if it just a cheery good morning. One of my older neighbours thanked me the other day for stopping to ask after her and her family. Another of my neighbours brought presents for my son when he was born. Through the sterling efforts of people in the neighbourhood there are dads drinking nights and mums meet ups and of course, through HOL, people have connected who may never have done so in the ordinary course of events.

However, I 've also had it commented to me by women whose children are too big to go to the playground that it becomes more difficult to connect with people as they get older (HOL is partly helping with that, I hope).

What I was trying to get to is what may undermine attempts to promote interaction and are there ways to deal with it?

Take the internet. We were all going to turn into loners surfing the net in our rooms according to the doom mongers. Yet the technology actually is beginning to help people connect and interact meaningfully.

If supermarkets are where the population congregate, how can we find ways to promote social interaction there? After all Sainsbury's in Harringay is part of the area not stuck out in the wilds of nowhere.

Do the type of premises growing in Green Lanes impede social interaction (yes, the betting shop is no place to meet friends;chicken shops do not encourage chit chat) so are we are right to try and control what comes to our high street?

Are parks places where generations mingle (you may say yes), if not how can we change that?

Would a more vibrant night culture on Green Lanes promote cohesion? Would people who avoid GL (because it can be a dirty and unappealing at times) come if we got some conservation work done on the buildings with the co operation of local people?

It has to come from the bottom up and people have to feel part of the process, or else despite all the good intentions in the world, they will not invest time in the broader community.

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