Changes in Family Life Experienced by English Workers Moving from Slums to Housing Estates

Two random samples of 30 families each were selected from an Oxford pop of 1000 families. One sample was drawn from an old residential area in the center of town, the other selected from families living in the newest municipal housing project. Each family was interviewed several times using a 'free interview technique'. Since the town center families were comparable to the project families and were soon to be relocated in new municipal projects, the study had its aim in attitudinal comparison between the groups in an effort to arrive at estimates of attitudinal changes which take place as the result of relocation. The following differences (p = .05 or better) were found: (1) project families tend to assume a conjugal-companionship structure, with a dimunition of extended kinship obligations; (2) the pattern of neighborhood associations is signif different, & (3) the project families tend to develop a wider range of extra-familial group associations scattered throughout the city than evidenced by the town center families. D. E. De Groot.