Caring Neighborhoods

Abstract

This article examines the situation in 47 “caring neighborhoods,” which are defined as those in which the neighbors report working together in caring for the neighborhood children. These suburban neighborhoods are White and predominately middle class. Fictive kin are found in some of these neighborhoods, and in all of the neighborhoods a low value is placed on privacy. These neighborhoods challenge the stereotype of the isolated nuclear family of the suburbs but reinforce the model of the male-breadwinner family. In considering how families can connect over child-rearing tasks and move beyond the male-breadwinner family, it is seen that the problem lies not in the suburban housing structure but in the condition of neighborhood mothers, who have to stay at home with pre-school-age children. This research suggests that to have the appropriate neighborhoods available to families, intentional neighborhoods will have to be built with an emphasis on gender equity.