All Mixed Up: Social Interaction and Social Ties in a Mixed-Income Public Housing Community

Abstract

What is the nature of residents' social interactions and social ties in a mixed-income public housing community and what are the processes producing these outcomes? This study examines the nature of social interaction and social ties between residents in Seattle's Rainer Vista Hope VI site using qualitative data taken from interviews and field observations. While there is some interaction between adult residents of different housing statuses and ethnicities, interaction is typically non-communicative in nature and results in few social ties. When social ties do occur, respondents describe these relationships as being more superficial than those they share with residents similar to themselves. Four processes producing this outcome are explored: language barriers and norms of communication, busyness, perceptions of others, and group-specific spaces or mechanisms of interaction.