Social Change in Mass Housing, the Privatization of Social and Somatic Functions, the Urbanization Process and Changes in Community Power

A sociological exploration of housing & living processes & residential behavior over the past century shows changing trends, particularly in the service & maintenance of household machinery, garbage disposal, rules for the use of public areas, & increases in household accidents. While living conditions & housing in highly industrialized areas have improved, they have worsened for a large part of the world population, especially in Asia, Africa, & Latin America. Residential areas are increasingly removed from work areas, & care of the sick & early education have passed to distant institutions. Although leisure & vacation activities are increasingly centered away from home, caretaking responsibilities toward the old & handicapped have again moved toward the family in West Germany. Satisfaction of such vital needs as eating, sexual relations, sleeping, & personal hygiene has become privatized & concentrated in the home. The growth of mass housing has led to housing administration bureaucratization & to a loss of local community & local social integration. City planning tends to serve the interests of economic enterprises, public offices, or other institutions, rather than those of the population. The organizational power of regional political bodies has increased at the expense of local government, pointing toward growing regional planning for ever larger proportions of the population. S. Whittle.