Search

The article reflects on the ambiguity of U.S. foreign policy. This clumsiness is attributed to inexperience, lack of focus, engagement in activities which do not clearly advance vital national interests, and idealistic impulses checked by realistic determinants. While these factors do contribute, U.S. clumsiness also relates to an inability to come to terms with its soldiers performing missions that require them to work closely with people they will possibly help, and fight, simultaneously.

This paper analyzes how people define their relation to different forms of community. Interviews with 77 Californians revealed that respondents either chose a community identity as a city person, suburbanite, small-town person, or country person, or rejected such identification as meaningless, stigmatizing, constraining, or a source of identity conflict. Those who identify express a sense of belonging, based on ties of sentiment, interest, value, or knowledge. They also use community imagery to interpret self: Self-designated city people, for instance, characterize themselves as active, liberal, city-wise; small-town people, as friendly, family-oriented, less materialistic, unpermissive; country people, as easy-going, independent, practical, ordinary, outdoor folk; suburbanites, as people of the middle ground. This rich, complex pattern of community identification suggests the limited value of traditional sociological images of community decline and placelessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]