A Place to Call Home: Identification with Dwelling, Community, and Region

Author(s): Lee Cuba and David M. Hummon

Source: The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Spring, 1993), pp. 111-131
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A PLACE TO CALL HOME:
Identification With
Dwelling, Community,
and
Region
Lee Cuba*
Wellesley College
David M. Hummon
Holy
Cross
College
The
concept
of
place identity
has been the
subject
of a number of
empirical
studies in a
variety
of
disciplines,
but there have been
relatively
few
attempts
to
integrate
this
literature into a more
general theory
of
identity
and environment. Such endeavors have
been limited
by
a lack of studies that
simultaneously
examine identification with
places
of different scale. This article addresses this critical omission
by analyzing
how resi-
dents of
Cape
Cod, Massachusetts, develop
a sense of home with
respect
to
dwelling,
community,
and
region.
Our results
suggest
that different social and environmental
factors discriminate identification across
place
loci:
specifically,
that
demographic
qualities
of residents and
interpretive
residential affiliations are critical to
dwelling
identity;
that social
participation
in the local
community
is essential for
community
identity;
and that
patterns
of
intercommunity spatial activity promote
a
regional
identi-
ty.
Such
understandings,
we
propose,
are
important
to
constructing
an
integrated
theory
of
place identity,
one sensitive to the
complex ways
the self is situated in the
social-spatial
environment.
The 1980s witnessed
widespread growth
in
scholarship addressing identity
and the envi-
ronment,
not
only
in
sociology
but also in such related fields as environmental
psycholo-
gy, phenomenological geography,
cultural
history,
and the
design professions.
Much of
this
interdisciplinary
work focused on the
dwelling place
as it
emerged historically
as a
locus of sentiment and home in modem Western culture
(Altman
and Werner 1986;
Duncan
1982; Rybczynski 1986)
and as it serves
today
as a
significant symbol
for the
communication of
personal
and social
identity (Csikzentimihalyi
and
Rochberg-Halton
1981;
Hummon
1989;
Lauman and House
1972;
Pratt
1982; Rapoport 1982a).
Other
studies examined the
interplay
of
identity
and environment with
regard
to
neighborhood
and
community.
Studies of
community
attachment,
in
particular,
documented how such
locales continue to
provide
a
significant
locus of sentiment and
meaning
for the self
(Duncan 1973;
Feldman
1990; Gerson, Stueve,
and Fischer
1977;
Hummon
1990;
Kasar-
*Address all
correspondence
to Lee Cuba,
Department
of
Sociology, Wellesley College, Wellesley,
MA 02181.
The Sociological Quarterly, Volume 34, Number 1, pages 111-131.
Copyright
?
1993 by JAI Press, Inc.
All
rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
ISSN: 0038-0253.
112 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
da and Janowitz
1974;
Rivlin
1987; Sampson 1988).
Even
regions
have drawn attention as
important
loci of
meaning,
with
exploratory
work on Isle
Royale,
Alaskan,
and Southern
identities
(Cochrance 1987;
Cuba
1987;
Reed
1983).
This
disparate
research has contributed much to our
understanding
of
place
identifica-
tion. It has
challenged
both
popular
and social-scientific
images
of the
placelessness
of the
contemporary landscape
and the self. It has
highlighted
the varied
environmental,
psycho-
logical, social,
and cultural sources of
place
identification. Yet
despite
these
advances,
this work has not led to a more
general theory
of
place identity, although significant
integrative essays
have
appeared
outside of
sociology (Lavin
and
Agatstein
1984;
Low
and Altman
1992; Proshansky, Fabian,
and Kaminoff
1983;
Rapoport
1982b;
Shumaker
and
Taylor 1983).
In
part,
such
integrative scholarship
has been limited
by
a critical lack
of studies that
simultaneously
examine
identification
with
places of different scale,
rang-
ing from
the
dwelling place
to the
community
and the
region.'
This
study
undertakes such an
analysis, posing
several
questions
vital to an
integrated
study
of
place identity:
To what extent do individuals
identify
with
single
or
multiple
locales? What factors increase the likelihood of identification with locales of different
scales? Do factors that enhance identification with one locale enhance or
mitigate
identi-
fication with locales of different scale?
To
provide preliminary
answers to these
queries,
we
analyze
how residents of
Cape
Cod, Massachusetts, develop
a sense of home with
respect
to
dwelling, community,
and
region.
Our results
suggest
that different social and environmental factors discriminate
identification across
place
loci:
specifically,
that
demographic qualities
of residents and
interpretive
residential affiliations are critical to
dwelling identity;
that social
participation
in the local
community
is essential for
community identity;
and that
patterns
of intercom-
munity spatial activity promote
a
regional identity.
Such
understandings,
we
propose,
are
important
to
constructing
a
general theory
of
place identity,
one sensitive to the
complex
ways
the self is situated in the
social-spatial
environment.
PLACE IDENTITY: FUNCTIONS AND SOURCES
Functions of Place
Identity
In
general terms, place identity
can be defined as an
interpretation
of self that uses
environmental
meaning
to
symbolize
or situate
identity.
Like other forms of
identity, place
identity
answers the
question-Who
am
I?-by countering-Where
am I? or Where do I
belong?
From a social
psychological perspective, place
identities are
thought
to arise
because
places,
as bounded locales imbued with
personal,
social,
and cultural
meanings,
provide
a
significant
framework in which
identity
is
constructed, maintained,
and trans-
formed.2 Like
people, things,
and
activities,
places
are an
integral part
of the social world
of
everyday life;
as
such,
they
become
important
mechanisms
through
which
identity
is
defined and situated
(Proshansky
et al.
1983;
Weigert 1981).
Although places
and their attendant
meanings
contribute to
identity
in
complex ways,
previous
work on
place identity
has
typically
focused on two broad functions:
display
and
affiliation.3
With
regard
to
place identity
as
display,
researchers have documented how
people
use
places
to communicate qualities of
the
self
to
self
or other. Places
may
be
integrally
involved in the construction of both
personal identities-unique configurations
of life
history
items that differentiate the self from
other-and
social
identities-groups
of
A Place to Call Home 113
attributes associated with
persons
of a
given
social
category (Goffman 1963).
For exam-
ple, given
the
emphasis
on individualism in American
society,
middle-class individuals
frequently personalize
domestic environments to
express
their
personhood
as
unique
selves
(Altman
and Chemers
1980;
Duncan
1982;
Hummon
1989). Dwelling places,
as
storehouses of
life-long personal symbols,
also
preserve
the
self,
serving
as a mnemonic
to
personal identity (Csikzentimihalyi
and
Rochberg-Halton 1981).
At the same
time,
places
function to communicate social
identity.
For
instance,
diverse work has docu-
mented the use of
place
to communicate social
rank,
whether
through
interior decoration
of
dwellings (Lauman
and House
1970;
Pratt
1982), neighborhood landscape styles (Dun-
can
1973),
or the
symbolic ecology
of the
metropolitan landscape (Hunter 1987).
In
conversations with the
self,
cultural
images
of
places may
even be
appropriated by
individuals to elaborate
self-conception,
as when urban enthusiasts describe themselves as
being particularly sophisticated, politically aware, tolerant,
and free
(Hummon 1990;
cf.
Feldman
1990).
With
regard
to
place identity
as
affiliation,
scholars have
explored
how
people
use
places
to
forge
a sense
of
attachment or home. Such identification with
place
often
involves emotional ties to
place,
but it
may
also involve a sense of shared interests and
values. This identification with
place
is often
experienced
as a sense of
being
"at home"-
of
being comfortable, familiar,
and
"really
me" here
(Relph
1976;
Rowles
1983;
Seamon
1979).
In either
case,
place
identities affiliate the self with
significant locales,
bringing
a
sense of
belonging
and order to one's
sociospatial
world.
Sources of Place
Identity
Scholars have been less successful in
systematically analyzing
the conditions that
nourish
place identity,
in
general,
and that favor identification with locales of different
scales,
in
particular. Nevertheless, interdisciplinary
research indicates that
place identity
arises in a dialectic
involving
both the
qualities
of
places
and the characteristics and
relations of
people
to
places (Steele 1981).
Places
Places
may
influence the
process
of identification
directly
as
physical, social,
and
cultural environments. Students of
landscape
and the built environment note that
places
differ
remarkably
in their
boundedness, distinctiveness, scale,
and
proportion (Steele
1981)
and that such
qualities
enhance identification
by providing significant,
discrete
place meanings
for the articulation of self. Such
arguments
are
usually
made within a
broad
critique
of the effects of modernization on the environment and
identity.
Standardiz-
ation of built
form,
the erosion of distinct rural and
regional landscapes,
and
geographic
mobility
are
thought
to enervate
physically
encoded
meanings
of the
landscape,
thus
weakening personal
identification with locale
(Buttimer 1980; Klapp 1969;
Relph 1976).
Similar observations are
routinely voiced by
environmental
designers
and artists who
believe that
"placemaking"
must be an
important part
of the construction and
preservation
of the built environment in order to enhance the identities of
people
as well as
places
(Alexander, Ishikawa, and Silverstein 1977; Fleming
and von Tscharner 1987). Such
historical and
prescriptive arguments, however, find limited
support
in
systematic
studies
of environmental
perception
and
design.
For instance, mental
map
studies
clearly
demon-
strate that cities differ in their
"imageability" (Lynch 1960), although they
do not indicate
114 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
whether such differences translate into
stronger personal
affiliation with more readable
landscapes.
Guest and Lee
(1983), however, provide
some evidence that this
may
be the
case. In a
study
of
neighborhood
attachment in the
metropolitan
context,
proximity
to
local landmarks increased identification with
neighborhood.
Places
may
also
shape place
identification as social contexts. Here
again,
scholars have
focused on the effects of modernization on
identity.
With
respect
to the
dwelling place,
the
historical
separation
of work from the home
environment,
the
privatization
of
family life,
and the domestication of women's roles are
thought
to both enrich the
experience
of
being
"at home" in
everyday
life and to locate that
experience
in the domestic environment
(Loyd
1982; Rybczynski 1986). Conversely, traditional,
Wirthian
(Wirth 1938)
theories
of urbanization and
community
decline have
argued
that increased
scale, density,
and
heterogeneity
of
community
life have weakened collective sentiments and
personal
attach-
ment to
locality. Contemporary
studies of
community
attachment, however,
fail to docu-
ment such a loss of local attachment: emotional attachment to the
community
is not
strongly
related to
community
size, density,
or
type (Brown 1989;
Gerson et al.
1977;
Goudy 1982;
Kasarda and Janowitz
1974; Sampson 1988).4 Further, although
the
signifi-
cance of the
dwelling place
as a locus of home receives
support
in studies of
dwelling
places
and
identity (Csikzentimihalyi
and
Rochberg-Halton 1981),
the
paramount signifi-
cance of the
dwelling
relative to other
places
has seldom been examined. Seamon
(1979)
provides qualitative
evidence that the
dwelling may
well be the most
significant
locus of
place identity,
but other studies indicate that the
dwelling place may play
a
secondary
role
in the construction of a sense of home
(Cochrance 1987;
Lavin and
Agatstein 1984).
Though
least
studied, place
identification
may
also be
shaped by places
as
symbolic
contexts.
Meyrowitz (1986) argues
that electronic media have weakened
places
as distinct
informational
settings
for face-to-face
behavior, eroding
the
spatially
situated character of
traditional behavior as well as
many
forms of
group identity.
Nevertheless, community
sociologists
have documented the
continuing vitality
of
places
as
symbolic
locales
(Strauss 1961). Large
urban
places,
with their traditions of local
boosting, city heroes,
public
landmarks,
and local
myths, provide
a
strong
local
culture, supporting
identifica-
tion
by
local residents
(Karp, Stone,
and
Yoels 1977;
Suttles
1984;
Tuan
1974).
Such
place
subcultures
may
also arise in other
geographic
locales. Reed
(1983)
offers evidence that
the
South,
as a
subculture,
endows
many
southern residents with a suitable
identity
and a
sense of attachment. Hummon
(1990)
notes that settlement
types may
also
provide
resi-
dents with a
community identity
as a
city person, country person,
small-town
person,
or
suburbanite
through place ideologies
that contrast
community
forms. Even forms of
dwelling-single-family dwellings
versus
apartments, private
versus
public housing-
may
valorize or
stigmatize identity
in the
iconography
of American culture
(Perin 1977;
cf.
Krase
1979 on
stigmatized places).
People
and Place
Experiences
Although places
as
physical,
social,
and cultural contexts influence
place identity, place
identification is also mediated
by
the characteristics
people bring
to
places
and the struc-
ture of their
experiences
with
places.
Such factors are critical to the
meanings
of
places
to
the individual, providing
a social counter movement in the dialectic of
people
and
place
that underlies
place
identification.
The
importance
of the social mediation of
place experience
for
place
identification can
A Place to Call Home 115
be seen in several
ways. First,
community
attachment research indicates that
integration
into the local area is a
prime
determinant of attachment to locale. Local social
involvements-particularly
those with
friends,
but also those
involving kin,
organization-
al
memberships,
and local
shopping-prove
to be the most consistent and
significant
sources of sentimental ties to local
places (Gerson
et al.
1977;
Goudy 1982;
Guest and Lee
1983;
Hunter
1974;
Kasarda and Janowitz
1974;
St.
John, Austin,
and Baba
1986).
The
significance
of local social involvement for
place
identification also receives
support
from
ethnographic work,
whether of urban
neighborhoods (Gans 1962;
Rivlin
1982;
Solomon
and Steinitz
1986)
or rural enclaves
(Coles 1967;
Peshkin
1978).
Second,
long-term
residence also contributes to
place identity, particularly
in
building
sentimental attachment and a sense of home. Duration of residence not
only
enhances
local social ties
(Gerson
et al.
1977; Sampson 1988),
but it also
provides
a
temporal
context for
imbuing place
with
personal meanings.
This
may
be
particularly important
in
linking significant
life events to
place, providing
the individual with a sense of "auto-
biographical
insidedness"
(Rowles 1983).
The
importance
of such
long-term personal
associations to
place identity
is manifested when
disrupted by
forced
mobility-studies
of
natural disasters and urban renewal indicate the
profound
sense of
displacement
and
grief
that
may
result from such moves
among long-term
residents
(Erikson 1976;
Fried
1963).
Third,
identification with
place
is influenced
by stage
in the
life-cycle, though
these
relations are
clearly complex.
For
example,
research on
aging
indicates that the
dwelling
place
becomes an
increasingly important
focal
point
in the lives of the
elderly,
and as
such,
may play
a
leading
role in
place
identification at this
stage
of life
(Cuba
and
Hummon
1991;
Rowles
1978;
Rubenstein
1987).
The
meaning
of the home and its
domestic
objects may
also
change
with
age,
with older
persons particularly likely
to
treasure such
objects
as
photographs
for their
capacity
to elicit memories
(Csikzen-
timihalyi
and
Rochberg-Halton 1981).
At the same
time,
some have
suggested
that attach-
ment to the local
neighborhood
or
community
also increases
modestly
with
age (Goudy
1982;
Sampson 1988). Together,
these
findings may
indicate a
general
enhancement of
place
identification with
age,
but
they
raise
questions
about the
primary
locus of
place
identification
among
older Americans.
Fourth, although
not well
understood,
some
scholarship
indicates that
place
identifica-
tion is also mediated
by
the individual's
placement
in the broader
society. Gender,
for
instance,
does not
appear
to influence the
strength
of attachment to
locale,
but it
may
well
affect its locus and
meaning.
Mental
map
research indicates that
women,
compared
to
men,
are more
likely
to use the home as a
spatial
reference
point,
more
likely
to have a
developed conception
of the local
neighborhood,
but less
likely
to have an extensive
conception
of the
community
as a whole
(Krupat 1985).
Inside the
home,
women are more
likely
than men to
speak
of the
dwelling
in emotional
terms,
more
likely
to describe it in
terms of
interpersonal
relations than
personal achievements,
and more
likely
to select the
kitchen as the
place they
feel most "at home"
(Csikzentimihalyi
and
Rochberg-Halton
1981).
These
patterns
of
meaning
and attachment reflect the
experiences
of traditional
gender roles, indicating
that
gender
and
place
identities intertwine as
places
become
settings
for
socially scripted
behavior."
In sum, previous scholarship
indicates that
place identity
uses environmental
meaning
to
display
and situate the self and that
place identity
is a
product
of both the
qualities
of
places
and the characteristics and relations of
people
to
places.
These theoretical
insights,
however, have been
generated by disparate
studies of
place identity
across a
range
of
116 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
geographic loci, ranging
from rooms and
dwelling places
to communities and
regions.
As
of
yet,
no
systematic
research has
attempted
to link the existence
of place identity
at
diferent geographic
levels with the varied
factors
that contribute to these identities. This
study explores
this new
territory, analyzing
how residents of
Cape
Cod construct a sense
of home with
respect
to the
dwelling place, community,
and
region,
and how the
geo-
graphic
locus of home is conditioned
by
four
types
of factors:
interpretive place
affilia-
tions,
local social
participation, spatial activity,
and
demographic background.
SETTING
Cape
Cod
(Barnstable County),
Massachusetts,
is made
up
of 15 towns
ranging
in
popula-
tion from
roughly 1,500
to near
41,000.
The
Cape
has served as both a
popular
vacation
area and retirement destination in New
England
for at least 50
years (Meyer 1987),
and for
at least the
past
30
years,
Barnstable
County
has
grown
at a rate far
exceeding
that of
Massachusetts as a whole.
According
to census
figures, approximately
one out of four
Barnstable
County
residents
age
5 and over in 1980 had lived in a different
county
in
1975. About 42
percent
of these
migrants
came from outside of
Massachusetts,
and the
majority (57 percent)
of these out-of-state
migrants
moved from another state in the
Northeast United States. In
estimating
total
migration
for all counties in the state from
1970-1980,
the Massachusetts
Department
of Commerce and Economic
Development
found that Barnstable
County in-migration (51,102)
was
highest
of the 14 Massachusetts
counties. This
pattern
of
migration-driven population growth appears
to have continued in
the 1980s. While the state
population
remained
relatively
stable from
1980-1990,
that of
Barnstable
County
increased
by
over 26
percent,
from
147,925
to
186,605.
Within New
England-an
area that abounds with
firmly-established place images-
Cape
Cod is characterized
by
a
variety
of
regional imageries, ranging
from beautiful
beaches,
quaint
towns, weathered-shingle Cape
houses,
and a
relaxed,
rural
lifestyle
to
hordes of summer
visitors,
rampant
commercialism,
and uncontrolled
development.
De-
spite
differences
among
communities,
Cape
Cod is
nominally recognized by
both resi-
dents and nonresidents as a
clearly-identifiable territory: people speak
of
"vacationing
on
the
Cape"
or
"retiring
to the
Cape."
The
economic,
political
and social factors shared
by
all
Cape
Cod communities reinforces this
regional
characterization.
Every
town on the
Cape recognizes
the
importance
of tourism to its economic
health,
the
mounting
concerns
over environmental
preservation,
and the
pressures
that drastic increases in
population
have
placed
on the demand for both
public
and
private
services.
Nonetheless,
the considerable variation
among
the communities that make
up
the
Cape
have coalesced in distinct
subregional
and
community place imageries.
The
Cape
is
divided into three
geographic areas-Upper,
Middle,
and Lower
Cape-each thought
to
be
relatively
distinct in terms of a number of
social, economic,
and
demographic
charac-
teristics. The
Upper Cape-the region
nearest the Massachusetts mainland-is more
closely
tied to the rest of the state than the other
regions
of the
Cape.
As a result of the
escalation of
housing prices
in
New
England,
the
Upper Cape
is fast
becoming
an
ecologi-
cal extension of Boston's South Shore communities: a home for
many
who work in
communities off of
Cape
Cod. The Middle
Cape
is the commercial and
governmental
center of Barnstable
County.
It contains several of the
largest
communities on the
Cape
and receives a
greater
influx of summer visitors than other areas of the
Cape.
The Lower
Cape-the
most
geographically
remote region
of Barnstable
County-is
the least com-
A Place to Call Home 117
mercially developed.
Because it contains communities with
large
areas of coastal
proper-
ty,
land values on the Lower
Cape
tend to be the
highest
in Barnstable
County.
DATA AND METHODS
Data Source
The data for this
paper
come from
surveys
administered to residents of three towns in
Barnstable
County,
one from each of the three
subregions
of
Cape
Cod. The towns
range
in size from
approximately 6,000
to
15,000.
These communities were selected to
repre-
sent the varied
experiences
and characteristics of residents
living
on the
Cape. Surveys
were administered to two
age-stratified (18-59
and 60 and
older)
random
samples
of
residents in each
community;
additional data for the
project
included
in-depth audio-taped
interviews with selected
groups
of older
migrants,
archival research of town census
records,
and interviews and field observations in a number of
Cape
Cod communities.
This
paper
focuses on
surveys
administered to
migrants
who moved to these three commu-
nities at
age
17 or older. A total of 523
surveys
were administered to
Cape
Cod residents
in the
larger project. Sixty-one
of these
(8.5 percent)
were lifetime residents of the
Cape
and are excluded from this
analysis,
as
they
were not asked the series of
place identity
questions.
The small
proportion
of lifetime residents underscores the
significance
of
migration
to this
region.
An additional 25
respondents
who
reported
that
they
did not feel
at home were also excluded from the
analysis, bring
the total
sample
size in
subsequent
analyses
to
437.6
The
surveys
covered a broad
range
of
topics
inaccessible
through
macrolevel data
sources,
such as the census: a
variety
of
demographic characteristics,
exhaustive
migra-
tion
histories,
reports
of
previous
vacation
experiences,
motivations for
leaving
commu-
nities of
origin
and for
choosing migration destinations,
patterns
of social and
spatial
activity
on
Cape
Cod,
and a series of
questions addressing
the locus and content of the
respondents' place
identities.
Respondents
for the
sample surveys
were selected
randomly
from town census lists and were administered a structured interview schedule in their
homes
by
trained interviewers. The cumulative
response
rate for the
surveys
was 59
percent.
Conceptual
Framework and Measurement
This
analysis employs
four interrelated
concepts,
each measured
by
a set of variables:
place identity, demographic/migration
characteristics,
social
participation,
and locus of
activity (see
Table
1).
We
begin by defining
three elements of
place identity
as an
expression
of "at-homeness": its
existence,
its affiliations
(or bases),
and its locus. As
noted
above,
such sentiment is central to
place identity,
and
expressions
of "at-homeness"
have been used in both
qualitative analyses
of
place
identification
(Buttimer 1980;
Rowles
1983;
Seamon
1979)
and
quantitative
studies of
community
attachment
(Goudy 1982;
Kasarda and Janowitz 1974). The existence of a
place identity
was measured
by
a
positive
response
to the
question:
Do
you
feel at home here? Those who answered
yes
to this
question
were then asked the
contingency: Why
do
you
feel at home here? Their
responses
to this
open-ended question
constitute our measure of
place
affiliation.
Respondents
were
allowed to
give
more than one answer to this
question;
their
responses
were then
grouped
118 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
Table 1
Variables and Measurement
Description
Variable Measurement
Place
Identity
Variables
Existence of
place identity
"Do
you
feel at home here?"
(No (0),
Yes
(1))
Place affiliation variables
Response
to
open-ended question, "Why
do
you
feel at
home here?"
(recoded
into six No
(0)/Yes (1)
dichot-
omies
by type
of
response; multiple responses
al-
lowed)
Self-related
(e.g., general psychological
state
happiness, "feeling
comfortable")
Family-related (e.g.,
reared
family here,
nearness to
family members)
Friend-related
(e.g., meeting people, friendly neighbors)
Community-related (e.g.,
attractive town
lifestyle,
sense of
community)
Organization-related (e.g., participation
in
work,
formal
organization)
Dwelling-related (e.g.,
home
ownership, variety
of
personal possessions)
Locus of
place identity
"Do
you
associate
feeling
at home with
dwelling,
com-
munity,
and/or
Cape,
in
general?" (each place identity
Dwelling-based
locus coded as No
(0)/Yes (1) dichotomies; multiple
Community-based responses allowed)
Region-based
Demographic/Migration
Variables
Sex Female
(0),
Male
(1)
Age Age
in
years
Number of residences
prior
to mov- Number of communities of
previous
residence
ing
to
Cape
Cod
Length
of residence on
Cape
Number of
years
of
Cape
Code residence
Community mobility
on
Cape
Cod Lived in more than one
Cape community (0),
Lived in
only
one
Cape community (1)
Social
Participation
Variables
Number of club
memberships
Exact number
Percentage
best friends on
Cape
Half or fewer
(0),
More than half
(1)
Church
membership
No
membership (0), Membership (1)
Volunteer work No volunteer work
(0),
Volunteer
(1)
Town
meeting
attendance Half or fewer
(0),
More than half
(1)
Locus of
Activity
Variables Where
respondent
was most
likely
to
engage
in a series
of
eight
activities
(i.e.,
attend cultural event,
visit
doctor,
attend
church,
see
dentist, buy major
home
appliance,
see
attorney,
visit best
friends, participate
in leisure
activities)
Number of in town activities Exact number from above list
(Range 0-8)
Number of other
Cape
town acts Exact number from above list
(Range 0-8)
Number of off
Cape
activities Exact number from above list
(Range 0-8)
into six dichotomous
variables,
each
measuring
distinct
qualitative
dimensions of
place
affiliation:
1. self-related
responses (e.g., general psychological feeling
of
adjustment, "feeling
comfortable");
2.
family-related responses (e.g.,
reared
family
here, nearness
to
family);
A Place to Call Home 119
3. friend-related
responses (e.g., meeting people, getting
to know
neighbors);
4.
community-related responses (e.g.,
attractive
lifestyle,
sense of
community);
5.
organization-related responses (e.g., participation
in
work,
formal
organizations);
and
6.
dwelling-related responses (e.g.,
home
ownership, variety
of
personal posses-
sions).
Combined,
these six dimensions of
place
affiliation
encompass
83
percent
of all
responses
to the
question
of
why respondents
felt at home on the
Cape.7
The third element of
place identity-its
locus-was also measured
by
a
contingency
question
asked of those who
reported
some sense of
place identity. Respondents
were
asked the close-ended
question:
Do
you
associate
feeling
at home with
living
in this
particular
house or
apartment,
with
living
in this
community,
or with
living
on the
Cape,
in
general? Multiple responses
were
allowed,
so that a
person
could
report
a
single
locus
of
place identity
or
any
combination of these three loci. Three dichotomies were con-
structed,
each
indicating
whether
respondents
associated a
feeling
of home with their
dwelling,
the
community,
or the
region. Together,
these three dichotomies are the
major
dependent
variables in this
analysis.8
As we
expect
the reasons
people give
for
why they
feel at home in a
place
will affect
where
they
feel at
home,
we
hypothesize
that the
group
of six
place
affiliation variables
will be
variously
associated with the three loci of
place identity
variables. For
example,
those who
report dwelling-related place
affiliations should be most
likely
to locate their
place
identities within their houses or
apartments.
Place affiliations based on
friends,
community,
or
organizational attachments,
on the other
hand, may
lead to
community-
level
place
identities. Inverse
relationships
between the two sets of variables are also
plausible.
Those whose
feeling
of at-homeness is based on
community-related place
affiliations
may
be less
likely
to claim a
regional place identity. Similarly,
self-related
place
affiliations
may dampen place
identities at the
community
level.
Five
demographic
and
migration
characteristics form the second set of variables. Fol-
lowing
our
previous discussion,
we include
gender
in the
analysis
as we
expect
women to
be more
likely
to associate
feeling
at home with
dwelling, given
their traditional role as
home builders.
Conversely,
we
hypothesize
that men
may
be more
likely
to locate their
place
identities at the
community-level.
We also
anticipate
a
positive
association between
age
and
dwelling-based place identities, suggesting
that for the
elderly, being
"at home"
often involves ties to the
dwelling
as the immediate
symbolic, social,
and
spatial
arena of
everyday
life.
The number of
community
residences
prior
to
moving
to
Cape
Cod
provides
a measure
of
geographic mobility. If,
as some
suggest (Buttimer 1980; Klapp 1969;
Relph 1976;
Webber
1970), mobility
undermines
place
attachment
by eroding place
differences and
destroying
the
particularity
of
place relations,
then
high
rates of
mobility may
be
inversely
related to
community
and
regional place
identities.
Conversely, place
identities
grounded
in
dwelling may persist despite
a
previous pattern
of
mobility,
insofar as the home is a
veritable storehouse of
identity symbols (Csikzentimihalyi
and
Rochberg-Halton 1981).
Length
of residence on
Cape
Cod
may vary directly
with
any
of the three loci of
place
identity, depending
on
patterns
of
intraCape mobility,
but could be
expected
to increase
one's
regional
sense of
place identity regardless
of the number of
Cape
Cod residences.
Research on
community
attachment shows that emotional ties to locale
grow
in
strength
120 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
over
time,
in
part
because
long-term
residence imbues the
landscape
with the
meanings
of
life
experiences,
and in
part
because such residence nourishes ties to
friends, kin,
and
community organizations (Guest
and Lee
1983). Correlatively,
a
single Cape
Cod re-
sidence could be
expected
to enhance one's attachment to
dwelling
or
community,
whereas
multiple Cape
residences
may
foster a
regional
sense of
place.
We
expect
the third set of variables-various measures of social
participation-to
influence the
acquisition
of
community
and
regional place
identities. Four of these
variables-the number of club
memberships,
the
percentage
of best friends
living
on
Cape Cod,
church
membership,
and volunteer
activities-may vary directly
with either
community
or
regional place
identification,
as these are behaviors that could transcend the
geographic
boundaries of communities.
By
contrast,
attendance at town
meetings (the
form of local
government
in
many
rural Massachusetts
towns)
should enhance one's ties to
either
dwelling
or
community
while
weakening
ties to the
region
as a whole.
Finally,
three measures of
spatial activity
are included in the
analysis
as a fourth set of
variables.
Respondents
were asked where
they
were most
likely
to
engage
in the
following
activities: attend a cultural
event,
visit a
physician,
attend church
services,
visit a
dentist,
buy
a
major
home
appliance,
consult an
attorney,
visit their best
friends,
or
participate
in
leisure activities. For each of these
activities,
respondents
selected one of three
geograph-
ic locations: the
community
in which
they live,
another
Cape
Cod
community,
or a
community
outside of Barnstable
County (i.e.,
an
off-Cape community.)
In
hypothesizing
that
patterns
of
spatial activity generally
affect the location of
place
identities,
we ex-
pected
a
positive
association between number of
community-of-residence
activities and a
community-based place identity,
as well as a
positive
association between number of other
Cape community
activities and a
regional place identity. Conversely,
the number of off-
Cape
activities could be
expected
to
vary negatively
with all three loci of
place identity.
We use these four sets of variables to address two
questions: Among
those who claim
some
place identity,
where is this sense of
place
located across the
spatial range
of
dwelling, community,
and
region?
To what extent can variation in the loci of
place identity
be
explained by
one's
place
affiliation,
demographic
characteristics,
and social and
spatial
activity patterns?
We
begin by examining frequency
distributions of the
place identity
loci
variables before
presenting
their bivariate association with the four sets of
explanatory
variables. We conclude
by assessing
the
joint
effects of these fours sets of variables on the
place identity
loci in three discriminant
analyses,
one each for
dwelling, community,
and
region.
RESULTS
The Location of Place
Identity
In this
sample
of
Cape
Cod
migrants,
it was difficult to find
respondents
who did not
feel at home there.
Fully
95
percent
of the
sample reported
that
they
felt "at home" on the
Cape, suggesting
that some minimal level of
place
identification is
routinely
achieved
by
these
migrants. Moreover, because
length
of residence on the
Cape
varied
considerably
among
those interviewed, this sense of
place
identification does not
appear
to be contin-
gent
on
long-term
residence
following
the move.
There is
greater
variation in where these
migrants
situate their
place
identities. As
shown in Table 2, respondents
identified each of the three loci of
place identity-
A Place to Call Home
121
Table 2
Locus of Place
Identity Among Respondents
in the
Cape
Cod
Survey
Locus
of
Place
Identity Percentage
Aggregate frequencies
Dwelling (any combination)
70.7
Community (any combination)
67.1
Region (any combination)
65.5
Disaggregated frequencies
Dwelling only
13.0
Community only
10.3
Region (Cape Cod) only
16.0
Dwelling
and
community
11.2
Community
and
region
3.0
Dwelling
and
region
3.9
Dwelling
and
community
and
region
42.6
(N) (437)
dwelling, community,
and
region-with roughly
the same
frequency, although
a
slightly
higher percentage reported
a
dwelling-based place identity. (As
noted
above, respondents
were allowed
multiple responses
to the
question
of where
they
feel at
home.)
When these
three dichotomous
groups
are
disaggregated,
however,
further differences
among
them
emerge.
It is
possible
to conceive of the various combinations of
place
association as
ranging
from
singular
and
sparse (linking
one's
identity
to a
single place)
to multifaceted and
dense
(linking
one's
identity
to a number of
places.)
In these data
respondents
were most
likely
to
place
themselves at either end of this continuum of
place
association,
with
relatively
few
falling
in between. About two-fifths of the
sample (39.3 percent) reported
ties to
only
one
place,
with
region being
the most
probable
locus of a
singular place
identity
and
community being
the least
probable
locus. A
group
of
comparable
size
(42.6
percent)
exhibited the
opposite pattern, claiming
a sense of
place
at all three loci. The
remaining group-those
who
report
attachments to some combination of two
place
loci-
is the smallest of the three. Less than 20
percent
of the
respondents comprise
this middle
group;
most of these
represent
a
pairing
of
dwelling
and
community-based place
identi-
ties,
the other two
possible
combinations of
place
loci
being quite
rare.
Although
there is considerable variation in how these
respondents array
their
place
identities across the
spectrum
of
dwelling, community,
and
region,
these data
provide
inconclusive evidence for a hierarchical model of
place
attachment. If
place identity
referents were ordered from least to most
spatially expansive,
one would
expect
the
greatest
number of those who
report
a
single place identity
locus to
identify
with their
dwelling. Concomitantly,
the most common dual loci identified should be
dwelling
and
community.
While the data
support
the second of these two
expectations, they
fail to
confirm the first. The differences between the three
subgroups reporting
a
single place
identity
referent are
small,
and the
largest
of the three is
composed
of those
claiming
an
exclusively regional identity,
not a
dwelling-based identity
as
anticipated
in a hierarchical
pattern.
It
appears
more
prudent
to
argue simply
that
although
there is a
good
deal of
122 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
variation in where
people
feel at
home,
most
respondents
locate a sense of self in more
than one
place
and that some
configurations
of
place
loci are more
likely
to arise than
others.
Exploring
Variation in the Loci of Place
Identity
In an initial effort to
identify
factors that discriminate
among dwelling, community,
and
regional place
identities,
we examined a number of bivariate associations with the loci of
place identity
dichotomies
(see
Table
3).
With a few
exceptions,
each of the four sets of
independent variables-place
affiliations,
demographic/migration characteristics,
social
participation,
and locus of
activity-were
associated with
predominantly
one
place
identi-
ty
locus.
Of the six
place
affiliation variables
(i.e.,
reasons
why respondents
felt at home in a
Table 3
Place
Affiliation,
Demographic,
Social
Participation,
and Locus of
Activity
Variables:
Totals,
and
by
Locus of Place
Identity
Dwelling Community Region
Variable Total
(No/l Yes) (No/ Yes) (No/ Yes)
Place Affiliation
Self-related
(%)
25.4 28.1/24.3
31.3/22.5"
24.5/25.9
Family-related (%)
13.3 14.1/12.9 13.9/13.0 15.9/11.9
Friend-related
(%)
31.8 28.9/33.0 25.0/35.2* 35.8/29.7
Community-related (%)
9.2 14.1/7.1* 10.4/8.5 13.3/7.0*
Organization-related (%)
12.1
14.8/11.0
7.6/14.3"
13.9/11.2
Dwelling-related (%)
27.9 13.3/34.0*** 25.0/29.4 24.5/29.7
Demographic
Sex
(% male)
41.2 53.9/35.9*** 38.2/42.7 43.7/39.9
Age (mean years)
59.8 56.6/61.2** 60.1/59.7 58.5/60.6
Number of residences
prior
to 2.9
2.5/3.1**
2.9/2.9 3.2/2.8*
moving (mean)
Length
of residence on
Cape
Cod
11.8
11.6/11.9 12.3/11.6 12.0/11.8
(mean years)
Number of
Cape
Cod residences 77.3 70.3/80.3*** 76.4/77.8 77.5/77.3
(% only 1)
Social
Participation
Club
memberships (mean)
1.0 0.9/1.0 0.8/1.l**
0.9/1.0
Best friends on
Cape
Cod
(%
half 57.6 64.8/54.5* 53.1/59.7 50.7/61.2*
or
more)
Church
membership (%)
66.4 68.5/65.6 67.6/65.9 63.5/68.0
Volunteer work
(%)
29.2 25.0/30.9 22.4/32.5* 28.0/29.8
Town
meeting
attendance
(%
half 41.5 35.9/43.8 33.6/45.4* 46.4/38.9
or
more)
Locus of
Activity
In town activities
(mean)
3.0 3.0/3.1 3.0/3.0 3.3/2.9*
Other
Cape
town activities
(mean)
3.1 3.4/3.0* 3.2/3.1 2.6/3.4***
Off
Cape
activities
(mean)
1.5 1.4/1.6 1.5/1.6 1.7/1.4*
Note:
*Significant
difference between
groups, p
< .05.
**Significant
difference between
groups, p
< .01.
***Significant
difference between
groups, p
<
.001.
A Place to Call Home 123
particular place),
three are
significantly
associated with a
place identity grounded
in
community.
Reasons for
feeling
at home linked to friends or
organizational involvement,
such as
work,
are
positively
related to a sense of
community
as
home,
while self-related
place affiliations-psychological
states of attachment
lacking specific referents,
such as
feelings
of
happiness
or contentment-are
negatively
related to a
community-based place
identity.
As
expected, dwelling-related place
affiliations are
strongly
and
directly
associ-
ated with a
dwelling-based place identity. Community-related place
ties,
although nega-
tively
related to both
dwelling
and
regional place
identities,
do not influence the
adoption
of a
community-level place identity.
In
general,
the
place
affiliation variables have the
least effect on the
regional
locus of
place identity.
The
demographic
and
migration
characteristics have
pronounced
effects on
place
identi-
ties
grounded
in
dwelling.
As
anticipated,
women were more
likely
than men to
report
a
dwelling-based place identity,
and older
respondents
were more
likely
to locate their sense
of self in the
dwelling
than were their
younger counterparts. Although higher
rates of
geographic mobility prior
to
moving
to
Cape
Cod were
positively
related to
acquiring
a
dwelling-based identity, intraCape mobility
was not: those with a
only
one residence on
the
Cape
were more
likely
to
identify
the
dwelling
as their
place identity
locus. None of
the
demographic
or
migration
variables are
significantly
related to
community-level place
identification,
and
only one-previous
residential
mobility-is inversely
related to re-
gional place
identification.
The social
participation variables, by contrast,
are
principally
related to
community
as
the locus of
place identity.
Greater involvement in clubs or volunteer activities lead to
higher
levels of
community place
identification, suggesting
that both of these often occur
within the boundaries of
community.
Attendance at town
meetings,
which
by
definition is
a
community-specific activity,
has the same effect. The
presence
of a
majority
of best
friends on
Cape
Cod is the
only
variable that influences either a
dwelling
or
regional
sense
of
place;
in the former
case,
this
relationship
is
negative,
in the
latter,
positive.
Because
this variable measures ties to others unrestricted
by community
of
residence,
its
positive
association with a
regional place identity
is not
surprising.
Finally,
the three locus of
activity
variables all demonstrate
significant
effects on the
acquisition
of a
regional place identity.
As
expected, participation
in activities both in
one's
residential
community
or off of the
Cape
decreases the likelihood of
reporting
a
regional place identity,
whereas
participating
in activities in other
Cape
Cod communities
increases one's sense of
regional identity. Contrary
to our
expectations, participation
in
activities in one's own
community
does not alter the likelihood of
adopting
a
community-
based
place identity.
To assess the
joint
effects and
magnitude
of these four sets of variables on the
place
identity
loci,
we
performed
three discriminant
analyses,
one each for the
dwelling,
com-
munity,
and
regional
dichotomies. Discriminant
analysis
is an
appropriate technique
to
address these
questions given
its
goal
of
classifying respondents
into one of two
groups
(e.g., dwelling-based identity
versus
nondwelling-based identity)
and the measurement
structure of the
independent
variables
(i.e.,
either dichotomies or interval
variables).
For
each
analysis,
variables were entered via
stepwise
selection where the criteria for selection
was the minimization of Wilks' lambda (minimum tolerance level, .001, minimum F to
enter 1.00.) Only
those variables that met the minimization criteria (and thus indicate
statistically significant
discriminant effects) were entered into each of the three models.
Table 4
reports
the standardized discriminant coefficients that resulted from these an-
124
THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
Table 4
Discriminant
Analyses
of Loci of Place
Identity
Standardized Discriminant
Coefficients
Discriminant Variables
Dwelling Community Region
Place Affiliation
Self-related
-.250
Family-related
-.235
Friend-related .180 .320
Community-related
-.200 -.378
Organization-related
-.153 .362
Dwelling-related
.501 .385 .217
Demographic
Sex - .472 .236
Age
.332
Number of residences
prior
to move .390 -.333
Length
of residence on
Cape
Cod -.315
Community mobility
on
Cape
Cod .252
Social
Participation
Number of club
memberships
.379
.183
Percentage
best friends on
Cape
-.204 .319 .256
Church
membership
Volunteer work
Town
meeting
attendance .182 .339 -.273
Locus of
Activity
Number of in town activities
Number of other
Cape
town activities -.191 .684
Number of off
Cape
activities
Canonical Correlation .383 .231 .306
Wilks' Lambda .853 .947 .906
Chi-square
65.14 22.55 40.48
Significance
.0001
.01
.0001
Overall %
Correctly
Classified 65.96 62.36 65.50
Note: For each model discriminant variables were entered via
stepwise
selection where the criterion for selection was the
minimization of Wilks' lambda.
alyses, allowing
for a
comparison
of the relative
importance
of each
explanatory
variable
in
discriminating
those who
reported dwelling, community,
and
regional place
identities.
In
general,
these
findings
reaffirm those of the bivariate
analyses: dwelling place
identities are
strongly
influenced
by demographic
and
migration characteristics,
as well as
a
dwelling-related place
affiliation; community place
identities are
largely
a function of
social
participation
attributes in addition to
friendship, organizational,
and
dwelling-
related
place affiliations;
and
regional place
identities are
principally
a result of
participat-
ing
in activities in
Cape
Cod communities outside of one's town of residence.
The
dwelling-based
model contains the
greatest
number of
explanatory
variables of the
three
(11), although many
of these are not of substantial
magnitude. Dwelling-related
place
affiliations
(i.e., feelings
of "at-homeness" based on
personal possessions
or the
dwelling itself)
have the most
pronounced
effect on
discriminating
those
selecting
the
A Place to Call Home 125
dwelling
as their
place identity
loci. Of additional
importance
are four
demographic
and
migration
characteristics.
Being
female and older increases the likelihood of
adopting
a
dwelling-based place identity,
as do residential
mobility prior
to
moving
to
Cape
Cod and
residential stasis on the
Cape.
Several other variables exert smaller effects in the discrimi-
nant function. Friend-related
place
affiliations and town
meeting
attendance are both
positively
associated with a
dwelling-based place identity,
while
community
and
organiza-
tional
place affiliations, percentage
of best friends on
Cape Cod,
and
participation
in
activities outside of one's residential
community
all demonstrate
negative
effects.
The
principal explanatory
effects in the
community
model are divided between the
place
affiliation and social
participation
variables.
Friendship, organizational,
and
dwelling-related place
ties all serve to foster a sense of
community
as home.
Similarly,
participation
in
clubs, having
best friends on the
Cape,
and
attending
town
meeting
enhance one's sense of
community
identification.
Contrary
to our
expectations
and the
findings
of
previous research, length
of residence on
Cape
Cod has a
fairly large negative
effect on
acquiring
a
community place identity,
the reasons for which are not
altogether
apparent.
This
surprising finding may be,
to some
extent,
an artifact of the
sample. Only
migrants
to
Cape
Cod were included in this
analysis,
and
length
of residence does not
fully capture
the duration of contact
respondents may
have had with the
Cape (e.g.,
through
vacation
experience
or seasonal
residence.) Consequently,
this
finding may sup-
port
Maines's
(1978) hypothesis
that the
migration
of identities
may precede
that of bodies
to the extent that
community place
identities are
acquired prior
to
physical
relocation on
the
Cape. Finally, although
of lesser
magnitude,
self-related
place
affiliations also demon-
strate a
negative
effect in the
model,
and men were more
likely
than women to
report
community-based
ties.
While none of the
spatial activity
variables
produced
effects
large enough
to be included
in the
community model,
the
opposite
is true for the
regional place identity
model.
Here,
participation
in activities outside of one's residential
community appears
to be
integral
to
achieving
a sense of the
Cape
as
home;
the standardized coefficient of this discriminant
variable is
nearly
twice that of
any
other in the model. The
remaining
effects are
mainly
divided between the
place
affiliation and social
participation
variables. As
anticipated,
community-related place
ties show a rather substantial
negative
effect on
regional place
identities;
to a lesser
extent,
the same is true of
family place
ties.
By
contrast,
attachment
to
dwelling
has a small
positive
effect on
acquiring
a
regional place identity.
With
regard
to the social
participation variables,
club
memberships
and the
presence
of best friends on
Cape
Cod-both
boundary-spanning
activities-also reinforce a
regional
sense of
place,
while town
meeting
attendance-a
community-specific activity-thwarts
a
regional
iden-
tity.
The
single demographic/migration
characteristic
appearing
in the model-the num-
ber of residences
prior
to
moving-is negatively
associated with a
regional place identity,
suggesting
that
mobility may
undermine a sense of
place
with
larger geographic
areas.
Some sense of the
predictive power
of these three models can be
gained by examining
the
percentage
of
respondents correctly
classified
by
the
dwelling, community,
and re-
gional
discriminant functions. The
dwelling
and
regional
functions
classify roughly
the
same
percentage
of
respondents (66 percent) correctly,
with the
community
function
classifying slightly
fewer
correctly (62 percent). Although
these
percentages represent
substantial
improvement
in classification over a random
assignment
to two
groups, they
cannot be considered
powerful predictive
models. However, because we are
primarily
interested in
exploring
the differential effects of four sets of
explanatory
variables on the
126 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
three
place identity loci,
these discriminant functions nevertheless further our understand-
ing
of how
place
identities are
acquired
across a
range
of locations.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
This
study
of where
people
locate a sense of home
provides important insights
into the
structure of
place identity,
the social mediation of
place identification,
and the
complex-
and sometimes
contradictory-sources
of identification with different locales.
First,
our
analysis
demonstrates that
place identity,
as
expressed by feeling "at-home,"
is wide-
spread,
rich in its attachment to
multiple
locales,
and
complex
in
spacial
structure.
Nearly
all
respondents expressed
some sense of
belonging,
and all three
locales-dwelling,
community,
and
region-contributed substantially
to this
process
of
place
identification.
That such varied loci of environmental
meaning
are used to situate the self underscores the
need for further research on
place identity
that
incorporates
a
diversity
of locales.
At the same
time,
place identity
is
clearly complex
in its
incorporation
of locales. In
these data
respondents
were most
likely
to claim either a
singular
or an inclusive sense of
home across the three loci of
dwelling, community,
and
region.
On the one
hand,
roughly
four in ten
respondents
identified with a
single
locale,
and such focused identifica-
tion was as
likely
to involve the
community
or the
region
as it was the
dwelling place.
On
the other
hand, approximately
the same number of
respondents expressed
a sense of home
attached to all three locales. These
patterns
of identification
suggest
a
complexity
of
place
identities not
accurately captured by spacial imageries
of
place
identities as nested sets of
bounded locales.
Second,
this
study
demonstrates how
place
identities are mediated
by
a diverse
group
of
social factors.
Although place identity
is no doubt influenced
by
the
qualities
of
places
themselves,
this research underscores how
place
identification is
shaped by people's
interpretations
of
place,
their
experiences
with
place,
and the
demographic
characteristics
they bring
to
place.
In this
sample,
factors as varied as
people's
accounts of
place
affiliation,
their social
participation
with friends and in
organizations,
their
spacial pat-
terns
of social
activity,
and their
age
and
gender
were critical to the
interpretations
of
place
identification across
dwelling, community,
and
region.
Third, although people's socially
mediated relations with
place
are essential to under-
standing place identities, relatively
few of these factors contributed to a sense of home
across a
range
of locales. In this
study
of
Cape
Cod
residents,
only dwelling-related place
affiliations
played
a
significant
role in
strengthening dwelling, community,
and
regional
identities, highlighting
the
significance
of
dwelling-based
ties to
establishing
a sense of
home at a number of
geographic
levels. In some
instances,
a
single
factor fostered
place
identification in two
locales,
as was the case with friend-related
place
affiliations
(for
dwelling
and
community identification)
or club
memberships (for community
and
regional
identification).
In
general, however,
our results
suggest
that different elements of the
sociospatial
environment and various
demographic
characteristics
appear
to be associated
with one or another
type
of
place identity.
Fourth, the same
explanatory
factor
may
have
contradictory
effects on the loci of
place
identity, contributing
to a
greater
sense of home in one locale while
decreasing
a sense of
home with
respect
to another. For
example, greater
residential
mobility prior
to
moving
to
Cape
Cod was
positively
associated with a
dwelling-based identity,
but
negatively
associ-
ated with a
regional identity. Consequently,
a
general proposition linking mobility
to the
A Place to Call Home 127
decline of
place identity
is not
supported
in these
data; rather,
frequent
residential
change
may intensify
a sense of
dwelling
as
home, given
that its contents are
easily transportable.
Other
findings suggest
similar counter-effects of the same variable across the three
place
identity
loci. Town
meeting
attendance enhances
dwelling
and
community identities,
while
thwarting
a
regional
sense of
place;
a
greater proportion
of best friends on the
Cape
strengthens community
and
regional
attachments while
weakening
ties to
dwelling;
and
participation
in activities outside of one's residential
community dampens
a
dwelling-
based
identity
while
bolstering
a
regional identity.
These
disparate findings may help
to
explain why previous
research based on different
geographic
loci sometimes
report
contra-
dictory
effects of the same
explanatory
variable on the
acquisition
of
place identities,
suggesting
that models of
place identity
must be sensitive to the
potential
varieties of
experience
that attach
people
to a
range
of
places.
Despite
these several
important insights,
a number of
questions regarding
the nature of
place identity, questions
which we cannot address with these
data,
remain to be
explored.
First,
we were unable to assess the relative
strength
of
place
identities across the
range
of
locales.
Our three
dependent
variables of
dwelling, community,
and
regional place
identi-
ty
were
simple
dichotomies,
not scales that would have allowed us to
compare
the
intensity
of
place
identities at various
geographic
levels.
Second,
we were forced to
rely
on a
single
definition of
place identity-an expression
of "at-homeness." While this
proved methodologically
useful in
searching
for factors that
explain place identity
across
different
loci,
it
may
be that alternative constructions of
place
attachment are
predicated
on characteristics other than those we have identified.
Third,
because these data were
collected in a
single region,
further research in locales that
vary
in both
population
size
and
geographic
location is needed to determine the
generalizability
of these
findings.
In
particular,
the
geographic
boundedness of
Cape
Cod which reinforces its
image
as a
distinctive
regional
locale
may distinguish
it from
larger
and less
sharply
bounded re-
gions,
such as the South.
Finally,
our data do not allow for
comparisons
between
migrants
and
nonmigrants
with
respect
to the location of
place
identities.
Although migration
appears
to have little effect on the existence of some level of
place identification,
it is
possible
that lifetime residents
may
situate their identities somewhat
differently
across the
range
of locales than do
migrants.
Although speculative,
the
patterns
of
place
identification discussed in this research-
patterns
of little
geographic nesting,
of few
integrating factors,
of
many contradictory
explanatory factors-provide insight
into the
underlying logic
of
people's
relations with
place
in
modem,
mobile
society.
In
seeking
to understand the varied
ways
in which
people
come to feel at home in
places,
we must continue to be attentive to the
socially mediated,
selective,
and
complex
nature of
place
identification.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was
supported by
Grant No. 5-R29-AGO5591 from the National Institute
on
Aging.
NOTES
1.
The
Quality
of Life literature, which
explores
residential and
community satisfaction, is one
possible exception
to this omission
(Campbell,
Converse and
Rodgers 1976; Fried 1982; Marans
128 THE SOCIOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Vol. 34/No. 1/1993
and
Rodgers 1975).
For treatments of this
literature, particularly
with
respect
to the
way place
satisfaction differs from
place
attachment and
identification,
see Guest and Lee
(1983)
and Hummon
(1990, 1992).
2. To
incorporate
a
diverse,
interdisciplinary
literature into this
discussion,
this social
psycho-
logical, perspective
is framed
inclusively.
For
instance,
we
incorporate
much environmental
psy-
chology, particularly
as it is attentive to those
qualities
of the environment that situate social
activity
or
display personal
or cultural
meaning (Altman
and Chemers
1980).
We draw on social
ecologists
when
concerns
with
spacial mobility
and form are linked to
places
as social and
symbolic
locales
(Hunter 1987;
Park
1926).
We
have, however,
excluded
sociobiological perspectives
that treat
place
identity
as a residual of an
inherited,
territorial instinct
(Greenbie 1981;
Van den
Berghe 1974).
3. This distinction between
display
and affiliation
parallels
that of Stone
(1974)
who
suggests
that identification
may
involve two
processes:
"identification of" a
type
of
person
and "identification
with" a
meaningful
social
object
or
group. Significantly, though focusing
on such nonverbal
signs
as
clothing
and
gesture,
Stone underscores the
importance
of such
appearential display
for
presentation
of situated
identity
in
interaction,
an
argument
that could be broadened to include
place symbols
and
objects.
4. Such broad
ecological
differences do
shape
satisfactions with
community life,
with
people
in
smaller,
less
dense,
more rural
places voicing
more satisfaction
(Baldassare 1986;
Christenson
1979;
La
Gory,
Ward and Sherman
1985;
Marans and
Rodgers 1975;
Wasserman
1982).
For an
analysis
of these two
literatures,
see Hummon (1992).
5. Similar
relationships may
hold for social class.
Although higher
social class
strongly
in-
creases satisfaction with the home and local
area,
it has
only
modest effects on attachment. Some
evidence
suggests
that well-to-do are less attached to the local
area,
once the influence of better
housing quality
is controlled
(Gerson
et al.
1977;
Sampson 1988). Nevertheless,
other work indi-
cates that middle class individuals are more
likely
to use the home as a vehicle for
personalized
display
and
identity (Duncan 1982;
Hummon
1989)
and that urban
working
class residents are more
likely
to bound their sense of home in terms of
neighborhood
rather than
simply
the
dwelling place
(Fried 1963).
6.
Although
this
analysis
is restricted to those
moving
to
Cape
Cod at
age
17 or
older,
one
should not assume that all
respondents
have limited
experience
with the
Cape. Length
of
Cape
Cod
residence of
respondents
in the
sample ranges
from one to
fifty years,
with a mean of 11.8
years
and
a median of 10.0
years. Consequently, length
of residence can be
meaningfully employed
as an
explanatory
variable in this
study
of
place identity
loci.
Moreover,
because the
survey
addresses a
number of issues related to
geographic mobility, migration
characteristics
(e.g.,
number of re-
sidences
prior
to
moving
to
Cape Cod)
can also be included in this
analysis (see
Table
1).
7. Two additional dimensions of
place
affiliation were constructed
through
this
coding process:
amenity-related responses (e.g., climate,
natural
environment,
outdoor
activities)
and
prior
experience-related responses (e.g., previous
vacation
experience).
Because of the small
proportion
of
responses (12 percent) constituting
these dimensions of
place
affiliation,
and because neither were
significantly
associated with locus of
place identity, they
are excluded from the
subsequent analysis.
8. Given the rural nature of
community
life on
Cape
Cod,
respondents
were not asked about
their attachments to residential
neighborhoods.
Studies that have been
concerned
with
neighborhood
as a locus of
place identity
have
generally
been conducted in
large metropolitan
areas.
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