Dealing with disturbances - Intervention and adaptation in Finnish neighbourhoods.

This paper investigates neighbourhood social dynamics with the help of two attitude dimensions discovered in earlier qualitative research: intervention and adaptation. The data come from a nationally representative Finnish Neighbourhood Survey (N=760) gathered in 2012. Our results show that adaptation and intervention characterize neighbourhood interaction in our survey dataset as well. The threshold of intervention is higher among the residents of detached houses and those without strong ties in the neighbourhood. Adaptation is associated with low income and living in a detached house. However, the four types of neighbours - yard police, fence builder, park warden and environmental caretaker - created on the basis of adaptation and intervention, provide a richer picture of the phenomenon and more powerful explanations. For example, yard policing is associated with economic resources and environmental caretaking with strong ties in the neighbourhood. The suggestions for future research and theoretical implications of the results are discussed in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]