Attachment

Some people are nomadic, but most have a special bond with their home and the local community. Now and then they may make a voluntary decision to move somewhere else, but when they do so they generally select a place that will suit their individual needs, tastes, and aspirations. They will endeavour to establish a sense of ownership in their new place of residence, and they will usually expect to become integrated into the social network of the surrounding area.

In various circumstances, however, people may be obliged to make a move that is not of their own choosing. Then they tend to become aware of the attachment they feel to their present home, they are likely to resist attempts to persuade them to leave, and they will experience marked distress when compelled to go.

Our attachment to our homes and communities comprises a complicated pattern of feelings, attitudes, perceptions, and behavioural reactions. I will list some of the components that psychologists have suggested may contribute to such attachment:

1 A sense of ownership and control.

Within the home itself people are relatively free to choose how they furnish and decorate their rooms, how they manage the household, and how they spend their free time. Within the neighbourhood, as they become involved in cultural, leisure, or religious activities, they may be willing to take part in decisions that will affect the direction of such activities, and in more subtle ways they may have an influence on norms of behaviour, self presentation, and interaction.

McMillan and Chavis (1986) have identified four components that contribute to a person's sense of community. One of these is the presence of two-way influence between the individual and the community. Individuals may expect to exert some influence on activities or norms within the community, but in return they recognise …

2 A willingness to be influenced by the community.

Individuals may be happy to accept guidance and support from groups within their community, and on the whole they will conform with norms of conduct that are created by those groups. They may acknowledge that a certain amount of conformity is needed for the groups or the community as a whole to function well and in a harmonious fashion.

Within a given community there may be some people who are less able or less willing to display the expected degree of conformity. The position and reactions of such "peripheral" individuals has been studied by Jolanda Jetten and her colleagues. My own hypothesis has been that in communities that have been gradually deserted over a lengthy period of time (Kenfig, Dunwich, Dylife, for example) more marginal or "peripheral" people may have been inclined to move away at a relatively early stage. Jetten's work has shown, however, that the reactions of peripheral individuals depend on their expectations of future acceptance by the community. If they have reason to believe that they can become more accepted they may make greater efforts to conform. In a place that is being slowly abandoned they may stay on until it is clear that they cannot become more integrated.

3 Place identity.

Psychologists assert that we are motivated to develop a clear sense of our own identity. We need to understand what differentiates us from other people. According to Proshansky et al. our sense of identity incorporates not just our personal characteristics but features of objects we value and the places which are significant to us. We come to see ourselves as the kind of person who would live in a particular type of neighbourhood, take part in employment and cultural activities typical of a certain type of community, and who would prefer to mix with people in specific social groups. Once we feel settled in a community that provides a strong sense of place identity we will not wish to be uprooted from it.

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