Private Pleasure, Public Plight: American Metropolitan Community Life in Comparative Perspective

This is a social and cultural analysis of community life in metropolitan areas of three nations -- the United States, Sweden, and England. The author focuses on how environment and culture interact to shape human behavior. Despite their many similarities, the three societies offer remarkably contrasting urban forms, and thus provide a unique opportunity for comparative research. The findings suggest goals for urban community development in America that can help regain a sense of human scale and establish more meaningful face-to-face contact among urban dwellers.

About the Author :
David Popenoe is professor of sociology emeritus and was co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. He is the author or editor of numerous books and articles and as co-chair of the Council on Families in America, he was the primary author of its pioneering 1995 report Marriage in America: A Report to the Nation. Some of his other works include Promises to Keep: Decline and Renewal of Marriage in America and War Over the Family.

Review :
-[David Popenoe] expresses his deep concern over the growing imbalance he observes in metropolitan areas in favor of deaggregated loci for interaction and behavior. . . . Popenoe's critical argument rings true. Private Pleasure/Public Plight should be read, understood, and heeded, because it makes explicit the aggregate implications of unmitigated acceptance of individual choice in urban areas. . . . [This] is neither a research monograph nor a text. It is a considered message, offering conceptual enlightenment on a vital matter. . . . Given the pertinence of this message, it deserves a place both as a course supplement and in the hands of urban researchers and policy makers.- --William Michelson, Contemporary Sociology "[David Popenoe] expresses his deep concern over the growing imbalance he observes in metropolitan areas in favor of deaggregated loci for interaction and behavior. . . . Popenoe's critical argument rings true. Private Pleasure/Public Plight should be read, understood, and heeded, because it makes explicit the aggregate implications of unmitigated acceptance of individual choice in urban areas. . . . [This] is neither a research monograph nor a text. It is a considered message, offering conceptual enlightenment on a vital matter. . . . Given the pertinence of this message, it deserves a place both as a course supplement and in the hands of urban researchers and policy makers." --William Michelson, Contemporary Sociology "[David Popenoe] expresses his deep concern over the growing imbalance he observes in metropolitan areas in favor of deaggregated loci for interaction and behavior. . . . Popenoe's critical argument rings true. Private Pleasure/Public Plight should be read, understood, and heeded, because it makes explicit the aggregate implications of unmitigated acceptance of individual choice in urban areas. . . . [This] is neither a research monograph nor a text. It is a considered message, offering conceptual enlightenment on a vital matter. . . . Given the pertinence of this message, it deserves a place both as a course supplement and in the hands of urban researchers and policy makers." --William Michelson, Contemporary Sociology