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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate older people’s views and experiences of getting help from neighbours in order to consider whether such help is situated within neighbourliness and the implications for social care policy which seeks to harness help from neighbours.Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study in which 15 older people from the North of England were interviewed to explore relationships with neighbours, managing day to day life and experiences of getting help from neighbours.Findings Relationships with helper neighbours were reciprocal, dynamic and preceded the start of getting help. The help offered was not negotiated but evolved in response to changes in circumstances and was commensurate with normative views of neighbourliness, i.e. reciprocated sociability and helpfulness but also respect for privacy. Respondents were reluctant to ask for help. Underpinning such reluctance were perceptions of imposing on neighbours, suggestive of anticipated asymmetry in the give-and-take of neighbourliness.Social implications Policy makers who see the help from neighbours as an output of household production and available as a source of informal care for older people must appreciate that whether help is offered or taken up is dependent on the development of a reciprocal relationship which itself depends on observing and respecting normative boundaries, such as in relation to help giving or receiving and due respect for privacy.Originality/value There has been little research into older people’s perspectives on getting help from neighbours despite diminishing public services and neighbours viewed as a potential source of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how long-term residents in a small city with rural links in the East of England related to new migrants at a time of changing patterns and increased volume of migration. Based on in-depth interviews and observations in 2005–6, the article shows dynamic, complex, and nuanced constructions of belonging and governmentalities of belonging. Long-term Peterborians felt proud that their city attracted migrants and became more multicultural. Many saw this as a normative aspect of being modern. Yet, the arrival of migrants also led to tensions and re-inscribed the racialization of Peterborough's ethnic minorities, articulated through the theme of neighbourliness. Through the figures of ‘uncaring migrant neighbours’ and ‘ruthless Pakistani landlords’, migrants and ethnic minority Peterborians were portrayed as refusing injunctions to care for the neighbourhood and the nation. Ethnic minority Peterborians were positioned ambivalently as hosts of and – at times – targets of racism by new migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a sociological research paper that deals with the issue of neighborliness and privacy in a low income housing estate in the South of England. The author attempts to critically examine sociological theories which hold that the importance of social cohesion between neighbors have diminished in people's everyday lives. However, findings of the study reveal that: there were intimate and strong relationships among neighbors because of the need for shared solidarities in the wake of hardships; women were playing the role of social facilitators; and trivial and traumatic events often resulted in the reinforcement of community and neighborly bonds.