What Is All the Fighting About? Privatism and Neighbor Disputes

Source: (1989) Social Justice 16(2):165-187.

Data from mediation cases in neighborhood justice centers in Wilmington, Delaware and Delaware County (Pa.) are discussed. The clients of both centers were largely female and nearly half the cases involved property disputes. Other conflicts involved claims of mental injury and conflicts in lifestyles. In both settings the disputes resulted largely from the communities’ underlying privatistic culture oriented to possessive individualism, an ideology of achievement, and material values. This privatism was experienced differently in the city and suburban communities, with adverse effects on the individual, the family, and the community in both settings.