JSTOR: Access Check

lot of people here, especially, you know, widows, they don’t necessarily want to ask for help, so sometimes I offer to go, to take them to the supermarket, stuff like that, or to the doctor. Because they won’t ask, even though they need it. There’s one lady across the street, she’s got rheumatory [ sic ] arthritis; she can’t even turn the doorknob ... See more

s in the case of sympathy—participants will be keenly aware of the account balances on either side of the fence.

In local communities, residents are much less prone to ignore any threat or dis-comfort a neighbor might experience. Instead, locals are more willing to get in-volved on an assumed victim’s behalf, especially when the neighbor is absent or somehow unaware of what is going on.

If a neighbor who has received help does not display any gratitude, the relationship very quickly will turn sour. In case one cannot reciprocate a favor by helping the helper in a timely manner, some locals will feel obliged to pay back their debt to other neigh-bors in need when the occasion arises. The practice of giving and receiving neigh-borly... See more

four distinct practices indi-viduals enact to treat each other “as neighbors”: friendly recognition, parochial help-fulness, proactive intervention, and embracing and contest ing diversity.

The first pattern of public realm interaction (Lofland 1998:29) refers to the habit-ual practice of “cooperative motility” among strangers in public. That people are mindful of each others’ bodies and spaces while moving around

A folk example of helpfulness in the parochial realm is the famous “cup of sugar” that good neighbors supposedly can, but rarely do, borrow from another. Nevertheless, the “cup of sugar” is a symbol for any kind of assistance that does not cost the giver much yet may mean a lot to the receiver because of a particular situa-tional constraint. Actual... See more

We protect each other. . . . Do we socialize? No. But we’re neighbors! And we’ll help each other if we need to help each other.

withholding friendly recognition among mutually known neighbors is interpreted as a notable act of hostility, thereby further reveal-ing the normative power of this principle.