Spatial proximity and social distance 2: Sociability and coexistence of classes « Jean-Claude CHAMABOREDON and Madeleine LEMAIRE »

Abstract

The researchers Jean-Claude CHAMABOREDON and Madeleine LEMAIRE conducted a field research in urban sociology in 1970 on the issue of: “Sphere Convergence & Social Divergence: The Residents of Large Housing Groups”. Our translation targets the second part of their published article entitled “sociabilité et coexistence de classes” (Sociability & Class Coexistence). This study is indeed an original product of field work that lasted for three years and that studied the major residential groups in the city of Creil, and, two years later, the city of Antony. In both studies, the researchers attempted to answer the following questions: -Can we consider large residential groups as having the characteristics that make them suitable for shared housing? -Isn’t it possible that the prevailing negative representations about the major residential groups are the result of neighbouring among residents that are not only dissimilar in terms of characteristics and social status, but also conflicting in terms of their values and lifestyles?