Patterns of neighbouring

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.

Proactive intervention, like extended helpfulness, has a signal function. It indi-cates to locals the type of neighbors one has and the kind of neighborhood one lives in.

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

The proactive favors I observed ranged from small gestures, like putting back the trash can for a neighbor who usually returns home after dark, to extended inter-ventions during which individuals take on serious risks and make sacrifices in order to assist somebody else.

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.

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

Clark’s rule specifying the need to occasionally claim sympathy (1997:174ff.) also applies to neighborly help, even though gratitude and the extension of unsolicited favors can make up for a lack of true reciprocity.

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

n the giv-ing end, all study participants seemed willing to aid a neighbor who approached them for help, and most recounted examples of assisting others in the past.