The Moral Order of a SuburbSurrounding all major cities in the United States are numerous smaller communities collectively known as suburbia. The most popular place of residence in America, the suburbs are peaceful and tranquil environments, where civility prevails and disturbances of the peace are uncommon. Drawing on research, observation, and hundreds of in-depth interviews conducted during a twelve-month study of an affluent New York City suburb, M.P. Baumgartner reveals that the apparent serenity of the suburb is caused by the avoidance of open conflict. She contends that although nonviolence, nonconfrontation, and tolerance produce a superficial social harmony, these behaviors arise from disintegrative tendencies in modern culture--transience, fragmentation, weak family and communal ties, isolation, and indifference--conditions customarily viewed as sources of disorder, antagonism, and violence. A kind of moral minimalism pervades the suburbs, a disorganized social order that, with the suburbs' rapid growth in America, promises to be the moral order of the future. A valuable contribution to the literature on social control, this study of conflict management should attract general readers and scholars alike. |
Contents
| 3 | |
2 THE TOWN AND THE STUDY | 14 |
3 THE MORAL ORDER OF FAMILIES | 21 |
4 THE MORAL ORDER OF FRIENDSHIPS AND NEIGHBORHOODS | 72 |
5 THE MORAL ORDER OF STRANGERS | 101 |
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action aggressive American appear arise Behavior of Law Black Chapter Cheap Trick cities citizens complaints conflict management confrontation court day-by-day basis deal domestic conflict domestic disputes encounter example fact family members formal frequently girl grievances groups Hadza Hampton Hampton High School Hampton's families household husband individuals instance interaction intervention involved Italian-American juvenile Kpelle less Levittowners live matter mediation mental illness middle-class moral minimalism moral order move municipal neighborhood networks occur offenders parents pattern peace population prevails problems public places quarrels rarely relationships relatives response role routine sanction sanitarians separation settings settlement Sheila McCarthy Similarly simply social control social networks societies status strangers street suburban suburbanites suburbia suburbs suspicious persons Tanzania teenaged tend third parties third-party intervention tion tolerance town town's residents townspeople traffic urban usually violence weak woman women working-class working-class families young youth Zapotec Zoning Office