Empirical Considerations on the Problem of Social Integration*

The present study analyzes differences in perception of neighborhood and residential mobility as related to formal and informal participation. Results show that perceived similarity is related to neighborhood participation, while residential mobility is related to formal group membership. These relationships, with very few exceptions, seem to persist even in the presence of other control variables like age, education and religion. A significant proportion of the urban community participates frequently with neighbors and belongs to church and other formal groups. These activities are generally high in the suburb and low in the inner city regardless of differences in perception of neighborhood and residential mobility except for membership in organizational groups: the high membership in the suburb occurs under conditions of perceived similarity. The theoretical implications suggest a re‐evaluation of the mode of life in the modern urban community and emphasize the significance of taking the perceptual as well as the behavioral context into account in sociological analysis.