The Moral Order of a Suburb - Softcover

Baumgartner, M. P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195069951 ISBN 13: 9780195069952

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

Surrounding 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.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In The Moral Order of a Suburb, sociologist M. P. Baumgartner explores the patterns of conflict and conflict management that lie behind suburbia's peaceful way of life. Based on detailed ethnographic research in an affluent suburb of New York City, her book describes the sources of friction in a suburban environment and documents the pronounced aversion to conflict that prevents most tensions there from escalating into hostile confrontation.

About the Author:

M. P. Baumgartner is at Rutgers University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0195069951
• ISBN 13: 9780195069952
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192