(1983). Research Round-Up. Connections, 6 (2) - INSNA

Lin, Nan, Walter M . Ensel, and John C . Vaughn, 1981 . "Social Resources and Strength of Ties : StructuralFactors in Occupational Status Attainment ." American Sociological Review 46 (August) :393-405Lin, Nan, Stephen C . Light, and Mary Woelfel, 1982 . "The Buffering Effects of Social Support : ATheoretical Framework and An Empirical Investigation ." Paper presented at the Social StressResearch Conference, Durham, New Hampshire, October .Lin, Nan, John C . Vaughn, and Walter M . Ensel, 1981 . "Social Resources and Occupational StatusAttainment ." Social Forces (June) .Milgram, Stanley, 1967 . "The Small World Problem ." Psychology Today 1 :61-67 .Wellman, Barry, 1979 . "The Community Question ." American Journal of Sociology, 84-5 (March) :1201-31 .We're notso lonelyin the city's the big city rat race :inToronto making us unhippy?Is the old neighborhoodspirit dying? Are wemore isolated and lonely herethan we'd be in a rural Ontariotown where "everybody knowsrvercbody?""I)on't you believe it," says,ociologist Barry Wellman ofthe University of Toronto -and he should know . He's spent'ears studying the behavior,attitudes and "social networks"i!f East York residents . A samplingof his findings :O Using data from 848 subjects,(including 33 residentsI who were interviewed for 12,-,ours each), Wellman findsEast Yorkers are not isolatedor lonely. On average, eachknows 1,000 to 1,500 individualsand has has significant contactwith a network of 16, fiveof whom are intimate familymembers or friends .(TORONTO STAR 15 Sept 82,reprinted by permission)U Though we seldom seeneighbors chatting on streetcornersor over back fences,most of us retain a sense of"personal community ." Thanksto modern mobility and communications,79 per cent'ofEast Yorkers' personal tiesstretch beyond the nighborhoodand 35 per cent stretidrbeyond Metro . Thus, we maynot he chummy with our nekt+door neighbors, but we`remaintaining close links withour network of family andfriends via the telephone, carand airplane .O People who live in apattmenttowers are no more ila•lated than householders. 1W4found apartment dwellers': itiEast York had just as mintsense of community as the pko',ple in houses," says Wellman .The difference : people inhouses see the same neighborsday after day while xheapartment-dwellers are sur'rounded by strangers . Still, thepersonal networks of friendsand acquaintances are thesame for both groups .O With married couples, It'salmost always the wife who de-% otes the most time to building,nd maintaining relationshipsoo ith neighbors, kin andfriends . Even working wives%, h o h ace to cope with job,housework and child-rearjnl(still have this responsibilify .My wife remembers all thebirthdays, phone numbers anddates," said one East Yorker ."She remembers everbut •- here my socks are: "Married . finding=7raentend to sit back and let theirwives run their (social) corn .munity whether their wivesare employed or not."So why do so many of us fedthe city has grown less friendly,that we Torontonians aftmore alienated than our smatowncousins?"Just a popular misconcepstion," concludes Wellmar} :"Most people we talked to saidthat while they are personallyhappy and have enoughfriends, they have a feelbbigother people aren't ."