THE STRUCTURING OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS ENGENDERED BY SUBURBAN RESIDENCE.

The objective of this paper is to examine the characteristics of suburban communities as they relate to the structuring of social relationships of the resident populations. This presumes that the form taken by these phenomena in suburban communities somehow differs from the form to be observed in other types of communities, and, furthermore, that this difference is engendered by the suburban situation. By definition suburban areas, however sub-categorized, are primarily residential areas having a peculiar location; that is, they are farther away from the center of the major city than urban neighborhoods but closer than rural neighborhoods. The ecological position differs from both urban and rural positions. It is hypothesized that this positional relationship with the larger city has a definite influence on the social organization of the suburbs. As unique characteristics of suburbs the positional relationship to a larger city and the daily commuting pattern of suburbanites would appear to have an important influence on the patterns of social interaction and participation regardless of the nature of the derivative characteristics.