Abstract The newcomer to a middle-class suburban community faces difficult problems of acceptance and adjustment. In W——, unspoken yet rigidly enforced criteria determine who is welcome. There is a distinct, and distinctly different, protocol governing the relations between old residents and newcomers in each section of toiun. If the new arrival to some sections differs from the established norms-whether occupationally, ethnically, educationally, or in his behavior-he may be rejected by the established residents and become a community scapegoat. The mental health of those who are subjected to this hostile behavior may be damaged, and the deviant family may be forced to leave the town as its most effective means of self-protection.