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`Ordinary, the Same as Anywhere Else'

Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity in `Marginal' Middle-Class Neighbourhoods

Manchester Metropolitan University, c.allen{at}mmu.ac.uk

Ryan Powell

Sheffield Hallam University, r.s.powell{at}shu.ac.uk

Rionach Casey

Sheffield Hallam University, r.casey{at}shu.ac.uk

Sarah Coward

University of Nottingham, sarah.coward{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Urban sociologists are becoming increasingly interested in neighbourhood as a source of middle-class identity. Par ticular emphasis is currently being given to two types of middle-class neighbourhood; gentrified urban neighbourhoods of'distinction' and inconspicuous `suburban landscapes of privilege'. However, there has been a dear th of work on `marginal' middle-class neighbourhoods that are similarly `inconspicuous' rather than distinctive, but less exclusive, thus containing sources of `spoiled identity'. This ar ticle draws on data gathered from two `marginal' middle-class neighbourhoods that contained a par ticular source of `spoiled identity': social renters. Urban sociological analyses of neighbour responses to these situations highlight a process of dis-identification with the maligned object, which exacerbates neighbour differences. Our analysis of data from the `marginal' m idd le-class neighbourhoods suggests something entirely different and Goffmanesque. This entailed the management of spoiled identity, which emphasized similarities rather than differences between neighbours.

Key Words: class • identity • neighbourhoods • ordinariness

Sociology, Vol. 41, No. 2, 239-258 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038507074971


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