Does social isolation cause "anti-social behaviour"?

Question

Not many of us know our neighbours by name. If housing estate & city communities where to have more interaction would this not solve part of the problem. I believe that If you know someone and they know you back you are more likelly to behave better towards each other.

Thank you for your answers so far.

Laird c: I understand Nelson Mandelas case is slightly different, his social skills where fully developed by the time he got put in jail. As you said social skills are learned from the family. It is increasingly common now that the family unit consists of 2-4 members where as a decade or so ago families where larger because the extented family would have lived in the same household. So If you do not interact with your grandparents how do you know to treat their generation with respect?

I also believe that poorer areas are more vulnerable for such behaviour, as social activities that would divert time from "Antisocial Behaviour" like sports clubs etc cost money. Boredom accounts for a lot of misbehaviour.

Girl in Love: The UK officials have then extended the definition for antisocial behaviour to take into account anything from yelling insults to urinating in public and graffiti. :)

Answer 1

Yes, most deffinately. Good Q. I live in London and it has to be said that there is very little sense of community here. It is an anonymous population that are to busy/afraid/suspicious to befriend anyone other than those already sanctioned by their own peer group. Unlike alot of people here I both know and get on with my next door neighbour (she looks after my cat whilst i'm away) yet thats about as far as it goes. As for the rest of the street, let alone my community, they may as well live in a different country. It's very sad but I feel mass media is partly to blame. Our communities are no longer based in our geographical location. This is both good and bad as we now have extended global communities but at the cost of our local communities. Also, the way the media paints our domestic situation makes us all to scared to contribute.

Answer 2

That is a very interesting question. I live in Belfast, and my community has just came out of a 30 year war. When the war was happening people were much closer, everyone pulled together and helped each other. People even risked their lives just to get bread and milk to neighbours.

Since the war has ended walls are going up around people, not just their homes, but their hearts and minds. There is not the same community spirit, and people are finding things to quarrel about. The social divide is widening with massive inputs of money, and the haves and have nots are becoming more resentful of each other. I am talking early post war though.

The anti social elements among the youths have increased dramatically, and dare anyone point a finger of blame at any youth, the family would kill you. There are no proper lines of communication, and people here do know one an-others names. The fact is, they no longer want to know each other. They have moved into the consumer dog eat dog world, and have no time for community spirit, so they keep building their walls.

Answer 3

Absolutely not. The develpment I live in is one of two orginial devleopments in my town. It's almost 70 years old, and although I've lived here all my life, there are people on my block that I wouldn't care to know, just based on how they treat their own families.

We have a family who lives across the street from us who hasn't been here that long (a couple of months tops), and the husband cusses out his wife and his two sons. They have an enormous dog (that I've knicknamed Cujo) that they can't seem to keep penned in their yard, even with the fence they've installed, and the next time the dog runs loose, I'm calling animal control. Our one next door neighbor always has the cops over because of her ex-husband. I don't want to deal with that either.

I really don't care about the people that keep moving into this area now. The only people I talk to are the neigbors that have been here at least as long as I have (if not longer), because I grew up with their children, and since we all went to school together, we're a close-knit bunch. And that's all we need!

Answer 4

In a soft science like sociology, one cannot put definite templates on how certain behaviours are affected by social isolation. In the case of urban housing, one has to remember that some people tend to be more private than others (like me!). In communities with larger spaces, there might be more social interaction. Yet the possibility of anti-social behaviour occuring from both types of communities exists. However in urban societies, much has been said about juvenile deliquency, gang-related violence, bullying and other anit-social activities. Far from concluding that social isolation in urban communities cause anti-social behaviour, risk factors like the economic disposition, ethnic backgrounds, family upbringing and of course, personal choice should be considered. This is true also of other types of communities. Anti-social behaviour grows when there is lack of civic model both from communities and the government.

Answer 5

Nelson Mandela has been in complete social isolation for decades and not become anti-social. I think it's a flimsy excuse.

Social behaviour is a value you either get or don't get from home and parents. When you don't learn it at home you still can work out your own social skills as a reflecting adult.

Only if you are socially really degenerated anti-social behaviour will manifest.

I live in a big residential complex, too. Not a housing estate thankfully but an upmarket yuppie residential complex and we don't know our neighbours neither, but this does not make any of the tenants anti-social.

Answer 6

antisocial behavior is actually a clinical diagnosis. This means the person (or ) the patient is unable to feel sorry for his behavior, he felt no guilt at all for what he has done to other people, including his family , his nearest and dearest.
i don't think social isolation alone cannot cause a person to loss judgment. Many of the rape victims were abused by person they knew, relatives, neighbors some even by family members.
i think the oppsite is true,'anti social behavior ' leads to social isolation not the reverse.

Answer 7

You are speaking of the Contact Hypothesis, which refers to the theory that the more people interact, the more they get along. It's especially valid of groups that are typically in conflict, like race relations. In housing communities, however, it's not a good idea to force interaction in my opinion. Some people prefer to be private, and being comfortable in your own home is always most important.

Answer 8

I consider Kim,in case you weren't already aggressive,it wont impact you.I easily have performed GTA,Halo,and different hack'n'curb video games whilst i became into 7-10.Now i'm 13 and relax as a cucumber.And a pediatrician is a physician that specializes with new child wellbeing and progression,so clearly they may well be tied in with the priority.

Answer 9

I believe you're right ! We hardly know each other and we're all full of suspicions, mistrust and all that is getting worse by the day...What could be a solution ?! Now, that's a tough question; we live in families, our care is primarily for our children and their problems...People which live alone are in their own solar system...they don't understand family life and vice verse...

Answer 10

thats true, but some people would use it against you too. some people are just bad, doesnt matter how nice you are to them...