Reply To: Does anyone talk to their neighbours anymore?

I think the difference between today and comunities prior to mass urban environments is that people have large spheres of aquaintance now. In ‘ye olde days’ it was those in your immediate vicinity with whom you interacted- you didn’t just live near each other but worked in the same area,frequented the same shops and pubs and more often then not were related to people in the community. You only have to read someone like George Eliot to see how decades of inter-marraige and social reliance on a core group for economic prosperity (i.e a village or farming community) intertwines families and indeed the entire populas into longterm co-dependence. No bad thing, but today people create community within their workplace or among a group of similar minded friends. It simply would not be possible to bond and form these ties with several groups of people so we quite understandably pick and choose those who are most likely to have empathy with us. I think……I don’t really know its just a theory