Grieving for a Lost Home: Psychological Costs of Relocation

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This book is one of a series published under the auspices of the Joint Centerfor Urban Studies, a cooperative venture of the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology and Harvard University. The Joint Center was founded in 1959 toorganize and encourage research on urban and regional problems. Participantshave included scholars from the fields of anthropology, architecture, business,city planning, economes, educatio engineering, history, Law, philosophy,political science, and sociology.

The ndings and conclusions of this book are, as with all Joint Center publi-cations, solely the responsibility of the contributors.Other books published in the Joint Center series inchide:C'V.LES ABRAMS, Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World.

The M.I.T. Press, 1964.wIAM orzso, Location and Land Use. Harvard University Press, 1964.ra_xRxm aDERSO, The Federal Bulldozer. The M.LT. Press, 1964.DONAX:O .WaYa, LC, and jorrt R. R, The View from the Road.

The M.I.T. Press, 1964.DWAVa C- BrFmLD and 3acms Q. wso, City Politics. Harvard University

Press and the M.LT. Press, 1963.joh E. ucw and osc nn, editors, The Historian and the City.

The M.I.T. Press, 1963.H w. coArr, editor, The Public Library and the City.The M.I.T. Press, 1965.ra^ra) j. FRmD, The Future of Old Neigloborboods.The M.I.T. Press, 1964..raN GLAZER and DA P. zoYmA..% Beyond the Melting Pot.The M.I.T. Press, 1963.

crer.v_ arab, Law and Land: Anglo-American Planning Practice.Harvard University Press, 1964.

Iw zxca, The Image of the City. The M.I.T. Press, 1960.ZO:D zowzu, Housing and Economc Progress. The M.LT. Press, 1961.srv.vN remvsror, Poverty and Progress. Harvard University Press, 1964.SXM B. wma, rR., Streetcar Suburbs. Harvard University Press, 1962.VORTOZ xrro uc wz, The Intellectual Verss the City: FromThomas Jef-

ferson to Frank Lloyd Wright. Harvard University Press, 1962.

Urban Renewal:The Record andControversy

edited by James Q. Wlsonhl

the

The M.I.T. PressMassachusetts Institute o TechnologyCambridge, Massachusetts, and London, EzglancI

U I I E $I IY 0. [ TOLEDO LISR RIE


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Copyright 1966 byThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology. and the President andFellows of Harvard College.

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Acknowledgments

The editor wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the invaluableassistance of Mrs. Janet Eckstein in the preparation of this volume.She bore the principal Burden of preparing the manuscript for thepress.

Advice and assistance also came from the editor's colleagues at theJoint Center for Urban Studies, especially Wlliam Aonso, RalphConanr, Wlliam Doebde, Bernard J. Frieden, John T. Howard,Kevin Lynch, and Lloyd Rodwin. The responsibility for the selec-tion and arrangement of materials is, of course, wholly the editor's.

Library of Congress Catalog Number 66-14344Printed in the United States of America

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Second Printing, March 1968

Al Rghts Reserved. This book may not be reproduced,in whole or in part, in any form (except by reviewers for thepublic press), .without written perm ssion from the pliblishers. b-


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List of Contributors

CHULES VS Chairman, City Panning Department, Columbia Uni-versity

WmLIa_t anoso Associate. Professor of Regional Planning, GraduateSchool of Design, Harvard University

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naxiN a-DSOr Associate Professor of Business, Graduate Schoolo Business, Columbia UniversityOZTO a. DAVIS Assistant Professor of Economcs, Graduate School ofIndustrial Admnistration, Carnegie Institute of TechnologyI-IILBERT. FEFFERM_AN Associate General Counsel, Operations, Housing

and Home Finance AgencyAsrEy A. FOArO Associate General Counsel, Legislation, Housing and

Home Finance Agency.MARC FRIED Researc,b Professor and Director, Institute of Human

Sciences, Boston CollegeBERNaVa FRmDE Associate Professor of City Panning, MassachusettsInstitute of Technologymrv_r j. s Associate Professor of Sociology, Teachers College,olwmbia Universitywmzr.a_ G. cauaszY Associate Professor of City Planning, University of

PennsylvaniaROBERr P. aROUEa Assistant Director, National Asociation of Housingand Redevelopment Officials -cns TMAr Research Fellow in Sociology, Harvard MedicalSchool, and Fellov;, Joint Center for Urban Studies of the Mass-

achusetts Institute of Teo.hnology and Harvard UniversityHAROLD KAPLAN Associate Professor of Political Science, York Univer-sity

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38 / CI-IESTER I-IARTMAIq

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ing." A 1964 GAO report on renewal projects in Missouri andKansas states "that a significant number of the famlies displacedfrom urban renewal projects in St. Louis, Mssouri, and Kansas City,Kansas, were relocated into substandard housing and that a substan-tial number of the families displaced in these cities and in Columbia,Missouri, were not afforded relocation assistance." And a 1964report on the District of Columbia concludes that the Redevelop-ment Land Agency: "(1) used standards for determning the ac-ceptability of dwellings for relocating famlies displaced fromurbanrenewal areas which were less stringent than the standards used forevaluating the physical condition of dwellings in determning theeligibility of an area for urban renewal, (2) made inadequateinspections of housing for displaced famlies, (3) prepared incom-plete inspection reports, and (4) referred some displaced famlies tosubstandard or uninspected housing." (A summary of all 23 GAOreports on urban renewal during the 1955-1964 period, prepared bythe Legislative Reference Service of the Library of Congress, isincluded on pp. 715-23 of Parr 2 of the House Subcommttee onHousing hearings on the Housing and Urban Redevelopment Act of1965.)

In sum, I feel that the findings and contentions of my originalstudy have not been refuted and that many of its important pointshave been ignored, such as the questions of different standards inevaluating pre- and post-relocation housing, the social and psycho-logical impact of displacement and adjustment to relocation, and thedifferential impact of costs and benefits on various socio-economcgroups. It is my belief that we not have a satisfactory answer tothe problem of relocation until improvement of housing conditionsfor low- and moderate-income famlies is seen as paramount, and themonies, energies, and professional talents currently available underthe urban renewal program are redirected toward a different set ofpriorities. Until that time I still call for more and better independentevaluations of the results of our current efforts.

13 Grieving for a Lost Home:Psychological Costs of Relocation"MARC FRIED

INTRO DUCTIO NFor some time we have known that the forced dislocation from anurban slumis a highly disruptive and disturbing experience. This isimplicit in the strong, positive attachments to the former slumresidential area-in the case of this study the West End of Boston-and in the continued attachment to the area among those who leftbefore any immnent, danger of eviction. Since we were observingpeople in the mdst of a crisis, we were all too ready to modify ourimpressions and to conclude that these were likely to be transitoryreactions. But the post-relocation experiences of a great manypeople have borne out their most pessimstic pre-relocation expecta-tions. There are wide variations in the success of post-relocationadjustment and considerable variability in the depth and quality ofthe loss experience. But for the maiority it seems quite precise tospeak of their reactions as expressions of gri@,These are manifest inthe feelings of painful loss, the continued "longing, the generaldepressive tone, frequent symptoms of psychological or social orsomatic distress, the active work required in adapting to the alteredsituation, the sense of helplessness, the occasional expressions of both

* Reprinted from The Urba Cozeditio% edited by Leonard J. Duhl, NewYork, Basic Books, Inc., 1963, Chapter 12. Copyright ) 1963 by Basic Books,Inc., Publishers.

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360 / CFmD GRIVIIqG FOR A LOST HO[.E /I 361direct and displaced anger, and tendencies to idealize the lost place.1

At their most extreme, these reactions of grief are intense, deeplyfelt, and, at times, overwhelmng. In response to a series of questionsconcerning the feelings of sadness and depression which peopleexperienced after moving, many replies were unambiguous: "I feltas though I had lost everything," "I felt like my heart was taken outof me," "I felt like taking the gaspipe," "I lost all the friends Iknew," "I always felt I had to go home to the West ]End and evennow I feel like crying when I pass by," "Something of me wentwith the West End," "I felt cheated," "What's the use of thinkingabout it, .... I threw up a lot," "I had a nervous breakdown." Cer-tainly, some people were overjoyed with the change and many feltno sense of loss. Among 250 women, however, 26 percent reportthat they still feel sad or depressed two years later, and another 20percent report a long period (six months to two years) of sadness ordepression. Altogether, therefore, at least 46 percent give evidenceof a fairly severe grief reaction or worse. And among 316 men, thedata show only a sl ightly smaller percentage (38 percent) with long-term grief reactions. The true proportion of depressive reactions isundoubtedly higher since many women and men who report nofeelings of sadness or depression indicate clearly depressive re-sponses to other questions.

In answer to another question, "How did you feel when you sawor heard that the building you had lived in was torn down?" asimlar finding emerges. As in the previous-instance, the responsesare often quite extreme and most frequently quite pathetic. They-

1 See Abraham, K., "Notes on the Psycho-analytical Investigation and Treat-ment of Manlc-Depressive Insanity and Allied Conditions" (1911), and "AShort Study of the Development of the Libido, Vewed in the Light of MentalDisorders" (1924), in Selected Papers of Karl Abraham, Vol. I, New York:Basic Books, 1953; B bring, E., "The Mechanisms of Depression," in AffectiveDisorders, P. Greenaere, ed, New York: International Univ. Press, 1953;Bowlby, J., "Processes of Mourning," lnt. ]. Psycboanal., 42:317-340, 1961;rend, S., "Mourning and Melancholia" (1917), in Collected Papers, Vol. III,New York: Basic Books, 1959; Hoggart, R., The Uses of Literacy: Cbangin.gPatterns in English Mas; Culture, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1957; Klein,M., "Mourning and Its Relations to Manic-Depressive States," lnt. ].PsycboanaI., 21:125-153, 1940; Lindernann, E, "Symptomatology and Man..agemenr of Acute Grief," Am. ]. Psycbiat., 01:141-148, 1944; Marris, P.,Wdows and Their Famlies, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958;RochIin, G., "The Dread of Abandonment," in The Psychoanalytic Study ofthe Child, Vol. XVI, New York: International Univ. Press, 1961; Volkart, E.H., with S. T. Mchael, "Bereavement and Mental Health," in Explorations inSocial Psychiatry, A. H. Leighton, J. A. Clausen, and R. N. Wlson, eds., NewYork: Basic Books, 1957.

range from those who replied: "I was glad because the building hadrats," to moderate responses such as "the building was bad but I feltsorry," and "I didn't want to see it go," to the most frequent groupcomprising such reactions as "it was like a piece being taken fromme," "I felt terrible," "I used to stare at the spot where the buildingstood," "I was sick to my stomach." This question in particular, byits evocative quality, seemed to stir up sad memories even amongmany people who denied any feeling of sadness or depression. Thedifference from the previous result is indicated by the fact that 54percent of the women and 46 percent of the men report severelydepressed or disturbed reactions; 19 percent of the women andabout 31 percent of the men report satisfaction or indifference; and27 percent of the women and 23 percent of the men reportmoderately depressed or ambivalent feelings. Thus it is clear that,for the majority of thde who were displaced from the West End,leaving their residential area involved a moderate or extreme senseof loss and an accompanying affective reaction of grief.

While these figures go beyond any expectation which we had orwhich is clearly implied in other studies, the realization that reloca-tion was a crisis with potential danger to mental health for manypeople was one of the motivating factors for this investigation.2 Instudying the impact of relocation on the lives of a working-classpopulation through a comparison of pre-relocarion and post-reloca-tion interview data, a number of issues arise concerning the psy-chology of urban living which have received little systematic atten-tion. Yet, if we are to understand the effects of relocation and thesignificance of the loss of a residential environment, it is essentithat we have a deeper appreciation of the psychological implicationsof both physical and social aspects of residential experience. Thuswe are led to formulations which deal with the functions andmeanings of the residential area in the lives of working class people.

THE NATURE OF THE LOSS I IW RELOCATiOIq :T H E S P A T I A L F A C T O R

Any severe loss may represent a disruption in one's relationship tothe past, to the present, and to the bamre. Losses generally bring

2 This is implicit in the prior work on "crisis" and situat ional predicamentsby Dr. Erich Lindemann under whose initiative the current work was under-taken and carried out.


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362 / 2vLRe RmDabout fragmentation of routines, of relationships, and of expecta-tions, and frequently imply an alteration in the world of physicallyavailable objects and spatially oriented action. It is a disruption inthat sense of continuity which is ordinarily a taken-for-grantedframework for functioning in a universe which has temporal, social,and spatial dimensions. From this point of view, the loss o'f animportant place represents a change in a potentially significantcomponent of the experience of continuity.

But why should the loss of a place, even a very important place,be so critical for the individual's sense of continuity; and whyshould grief at such loss be so widespread a phenomenon? In orderto clarify this, it is necessary to consider the meaning which thisarea, the West End of Boston, had for the lives of its inhabitants. Inan earlier paper we tried to assess this, and came to conclusionswhich corroborate, akhough they go further, the results from thefew related studies.

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In studying the reasons for satisfaction that the majority of slum resi-dents experience, two major components have emerged. On the onehand, the residential area is the region in which a vast and interlockingset of social networks is localized. And, off"e-other, the physical areahas considerable meaning as an extension of home, in which variousparrs are delineated and structured on the basis of a sense of belonging.These two components provide the context in which the residentia areamay so easily be invested with considerable, multiply-determned mean-ing .... the greatest proportion of this working-cLass group . . . showsa fairly common experience and usage of the residential area...domnated by a conception of the local area beyond the dwelling unitas an integral part of home. This view of an area as home and the sig-niticance of local people and local pLaces are so profoundly at variancewith typical mddle-class orientations that it is diticult to appreciate theintensity of meaning, the basic sense of identity involved in living in theparticular area.a

fl(d Nor is the intense investment of a residential area, both as animportant physical space and as the locus for meaningful inter-personal ties, limted to the West End.4 What is common to a host

Fried, M, and Geicher, P., "Some Sources of Residential Satisfaction inan Urban Slum," J. Amer. Inst. Panners, 27:305-315, 1961.4 See Gans, H., The Urban Vllagers, New York: The Free Press of Gen-coe, 1963; Gans, H., "The Human Implications of Current Redevelopmentand Relocation Planning," J. Amer. Inst. Planners, 25:15-25, 1959; Hoggart, R.,op. it.; Hole, V., "Social Efects of Planned Rehousing," Ton Planning Rev.,30:161-173, 1959; Morris, P., Famly and SodaI Change in an African City,

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of studies is the evidence for the integrity of the urban, working-class, slum community as a social and spatial unit. It is the sense ofbelonging someplace, in a particular place which is quite famliarand easily delineated, in a wide area in which one feels "at home."This is the core of meaning of the local area. And this applies formany people who have few close relationships within the area. Evenfamliar and expectable streets and houses, faces at the window andpeople walking by, personal greetings and impersonal sounds mayserve to designate the concrete loci of a sense of belonging some-where and may provide special kinds of interpersonal and socialmeaning to a region one defines as "home."

It would be impossible to understand the reactions both todislocation and to relocation and, particularly, the depth and fre-quency of grief responses without taking account of working-classorientations to residential areas. One of our primary theses is thatthe strength of the grief reaction to the loss of the West End islargely a function of prior orientations to the area. Thus, wecertainly expect to find that the greater a person's pre-relocationcommtment to the area, the more likely he is to react with markedgrief. This predicffor3s confi rmed again and again by the data.5 F orEvanston, 1]1.: [Northwestern Univ. Press, 1962; Mogey, J. M, Family andNeighbourhood, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1956; Seeley, J., "The S um:Its Nature, Use, and Users," J. Amer. Inst. Planners, 25:7-14, 1959; Vereker,C, and Mays, J. B., Urban Redevelopment and Social Change, New York:Lounz, 1960; Young, M., and W llmort, P., Famly and Kinshif l in East Lon-don, G encoe, Ill.: The Free Press, 1957.

5 The analysis involves a comparison of information from interviews ad-mnistered before relocation with a depth of grief index derived from follow-up interviews approximately two years after relocation. The pre-relocationinterviews were administered to a randomy selected sample of 473 womenfrom households in this area at the time the land was taken by the city. Thepost-relocation ..... interviews were completed with 92 percent of the womenwho had guven pre-relocauon interviews and wlth 87 .percent of the menfromthose households in which there was a husband in the household. Primaryemphasis will be given to the results with the women since we do not haveas full a range of pre-relocarion information for-the men. However, since asplit schedule was used for the post-relocation interviews, the depth of griefindex is available for only 259 women.Dr. Jason Aronson was largely responsible for developing the series of ques-tions on grief. The opening question of the series was: Many people have toldus that just after they moved they felt sad or depressed. Did you feel thisway? This was followed by the three specific questions on which the indexwas based: (1) Would you describe how you felt? (2) How long did thesefeelings last? (3) How did you feel when you saw or heard that the buildingyou had lived in was torn down? Each person was given a score from 1 to 4on the basis of the coded responses to these questions and the scores were sum-


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belonging are, in the working class, integrally tied to a specificplace. We would not expect simlar effects or, at least, effects ofsimlar proportion in a m ddle-class area. Generally speaking, anintegrated sense of spatial identity in the mddle class is not ascontingent on the external stability of place or as dependent on thelocalization of social patterns, interpersonal relationships, and dailyroutines. In these data, in fact, there is a marked relationshipbetween class status and depth of grief; the higher the status, by anyof several indices, the smaller the proportions of severe grief. It isprimarily in the working class, and largely because of the impor-tance of external stability, that dislocation from a famliar residentialarea has so great an effect on fragmenting the sense of spatialidentity.

External stabihty is also extremely important in interpersonalpatterns within the working class. And dislocation and relocationinvolve a fragmentation of the external bases for interpersonalrelationships and group networks. Thus, relocation undermnes theestablished interpersonal relationships and group ties of the peopleinvolved and, in effect, destroys the sense of group identity of agreat many individuals. "Group identity," a concept originallyformulated by Erik Erikson, refers to the individual's sense ofbelonging, of being a part of larger human and social entities. It mayinclude belonging to organizations or interpersona networks withwhich a person is directly involved; and it may refer to "member-ship" in social groups with whom an individual has little overtcontact, whether it be a famly, a social class, an ethnic collectivkD%a profession, or a group of people sharing a common ideology.What is common to these various patterns of group identity is thatthey represent an integrated sense of shared human qualities, ofsome sense of communality with other people which is essential formeaningful social functioning. Since, most notably in the workingclass, effective relationships with others are dependent upon acontinuing sense of common group identity, the experience of lossand disruption of these affiliations is intense and frequently irrevo-cable. On the grounds, therefore, of both spatial and interpersonalorientations and commtments, dislocation from the residential arearepresents a particularly marked disruption in the sense of con-tinuity for the majority of this group.

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THE NATURE OF THE LOSS IN RELOCATION:SOC I AL AND P ERSONAL FAC TORS

Previously we said that by emphasizing the spatial dimension of theorientation to the West End, we did not mean to diminish theimportance of social patterns in the experience of the local area andtheir effects on post-relocation loss reactions. Nor do we wish toneglect personality factors involved in the widespread grief reac-tions. It is quite clear that pre-relocation social relationships andintrapsychic dispositions do affect the depth of grief in response toleaving the West End. The strongest of these patterns is based onthe association between depth of grief and pre-relocation feelingsabout neighbors. Among those women who had very positivefeelings about their neighbors, 76 percent show severe grief reac-tions; among those who were positive but less extreme, 56 percentshow severe grief; and among those who were relatively negative,38 percent have marked grief responses. Similarly, among thewomen whose fve closest friends lived in the West End, 67 percentshow marked grief; among those whose friends were mostly in theWest End or equally distributed inside and outside the area, 55percent have severe grief reactions; and among those whose friendswere mostly or all outside, 44 percent show severe grief.

The fact that these differences, although great, are not as con-sistently powerful as the differences relating to spatial use patternsdoes not necessarily imply the greater importance of sp&tial factors.If we hold the effect of spatial variables constant and examne therelationship between depth of grief and the interpersonal variables,it becomes apparent that the effect of interpersonal contacts ondepth of grief is consistent regardless of differences in spatialorientation; and, likewise, the effect of spatial orientations on depthof grief is consistent regardless of differences in interpersonal rela-tionships. Thus, each set of factors contributes independently to thedepth of grief in spite of some degree o" internal relationship. Inshort, we suggest that either spatial identity or group identity maybe a critical focus of loss of continuity and thereby lead to severegrief; but if botb bases for the sense of continuity are localizedwitbin the residential area the disruption of continuity is greater,and the proportions of marked grief correspondingly higher.

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It is noteworthy that, apart from local interpersonal and socialrelationships and local spatial orientations and use (and variableswhich are closely related to these), there are few other social orpersonal factors in the pre-relocation situation which are related todepth of grief. These negative findings are of particular importancein emphasizing that not all the variables which influence the griefreaction to dislocation are of equal importance. It should be addedthat a predisposition to depression markedly accentuates the depthof grief in response to the loss of one's residential area. But it is alsoclear that prior depressive orientations do not account for the entirerelationship. The effects of the general depressive orientation and ofthe social, interpersonal, and spatial relationships within the WestEnd are essentially additive; both sets of factors contributemarkedly to the nal result. Thus, among the women with a severedepressive orientation, an extremely large proportion (81 percent)of those who regarded the West End as their real home showmarked grief. But among the women without a depressive orienta-tion, only a moderate proportion (58 percent) of those who sim-larly viewed the West End as home show severe grief. On the otherhand, when the West End is not seen as the person's real home, anincreasing severity of general depressive orientation does not lead toan increased proportion of severe grief reactions.

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The dependence of the sense of continuity on external resources inthe working class, particularly on the availability and local presenceof familiar places which have the character of "home," and offamliar people whose patterns of behavior and response are rela-tively predictable, does not account for all of the reaction of griefto dislocation. In addition to these factors, which may be accentu-ated by depressive predispositions, it is quite evident that therealities of post-relocarion experience are bound to affect the per-petuation, quality, and depth of grief. And, in fact, our data showthat there is a strong association between positive or negativeexperiences in the post-relocation situation and the proportions whoshow severe grief. But this issue is complicated by two factors: (1)the extent to which potentially meaningful post-relocation circum-stances can be a satisfying experience is affected by the degree and

TI rE NATURE OF THE LOSS IN ILELOCATION: CASE A NALYSES

tenaciousness of previous commtments to the West End, and (2)the post-relocation "reality" is, in part, selected by the people whomove and thus is a function of many personality factors, includingthe ability to and@ate needs, demands, and environmental oppor-tunities.

In trying to understand the effects of pre-relocation orientationsand post-relocation experiences of grief, we must bear in mnd thatthe grief reactions we have described and analyzed are based onresponses given approximately two years after relocation. Mostpeople manage to achieve some adaptation to their experiences ofloss and grief, and learn to deal with new situations and newexperiences on their own terms. A wide variety of adaptive methodscan be employed to salvage fragments of the sense of continuity, orto try to re-establish it on new grounds. Nonetheless, it is thetenaciousness of the imagery and affect of grief, despite these effortsat dealing with the akered reality, which is so strikingly simlar tomourning for a lost person.

In coping with the sense of loss, some famlies tried to remainphysically close to the area they Knew, even though most of theirclose interpersonal relationships remain disrupted; and by thismethod, they appear often to have modified their feelings of grief.Other famlies try to move among relatives and maintain a sense ofcontinuity through some degree of constancy in the external basesfor their group identity. Yet others respond to the loss of place andpeople by accentuating the importance of those role relationshipswhich remain. Thus, a number of women report increased closenessto their husbands, which they often explicitly relate to the decreasein the availability of other social relationships for both partners andwhich, in turn, modifies the severity of grief. In order to clarifysome of the complexities of pre-relocation orientations and of post-relocation adjustments most concretely, a review of several casesmay prove to be instructive.

It is evident that a very strong posirive-i2re-relocation orientationto the West End is relatively infrequently associated with a com-plete absence of grief; and that, likewise, a negative pre-relocationorientation to the area is infrequently associated with a strong griefresponse. The two types which are numerically domnant are, interms of rational expectations, consistent: those with strong positivefeelings about the West End and severe grief; and those with

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negative feelings about the West End and mnimal or moderategrief. The two "deviant" types, by the same token, are bothnumerically smaller and inconsistent: those with strong positive pre-relocation orientations and little grief; and those with negative pre-relocation orientations and severe grief. A closer examnation ofthose "deviant" cases with strong pre-relocation commtment to theWest End and mnimal post-relocation grief often reveals eitherimportant reservations in their prior involvement with the WestEnd or, more frequently, the denial or rejection of feelings of griefrather than their total absence. And the association of mnimal pre-relocation commitment to the West End with a severe grief re-sponse often proves on closer examnation to be a function of a deepinvolvement in the West End which is modied by markedlyambivalent statements; or, more generally, the grief reaction itself isquite modest and tenuous or is even a pseudo-grief which masks theprimacy of dissatisfaction with the current area.

GRIEF PATTERNS: CASE EXAiM[PLESIn turning to case analysis, we shall concentrate on the specificfactors which operate in famlies of a11 four types, those representingthe two domnant and those representing the two deviant patterns.

1. The Figella family exemplifies the association of strong positivepre-relocation attachments to the West End and a severe griefreaction. This is the most frequent of all the patterns and, althoughthe Figella famly is only one "type" among those who show thispattern, they are p rototypical of a famliar West End constellation.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Figella are second-generation Americans whowere born and brought up in the West End. In her we-relocationinterview, Mrs. Figella described her feelings about Hying in theWest End unambiguously: "It's a wonderful place, the people arefriendly." She "loves everything about it" and anticipates mssingher relatives above all. She is satisfied with her dwelling: "It'scomfortable, clean and warm." And the marriage appears to bedeeply satisfying for both husband and wife. They share manyhousehold activities and have a warm famly life with their threechildren.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Figella feel that their lives have changed agreat deal since relocation. They are clearly referring, however, tothe pattern and conditions of their relationships with other people.Their home life has changed little except that Mr. FigeUa is homemore. He continues to work at the same job as a manual laborerwith a modest but sufficient income. While they have many eco-nomc insecurities, the relocation has not produced any seriousfinancial difficulty for them.

In relocating, the Figella famly bought a house. Both husband andwife are quite satisfied with the physical arrangements but, all in all,they are dissatisfied with the move. When asked what she dislikesabout her present dwelling, Mrs. Figella replied simply and patheti-c@: "It's in Arlington and I want to be in the West End." BothMr. and lrs. Figella we outgoing, friendly people with a very widecircle of social contacts. Although they still see their relatives often,they both feel isolated from them and they regret the loss of theirfriends. As Mr. Figella puts it: "I come home from work and that'sit. I just plant myself in the house."

The Figella famly is, in many respects, typical of a well-adiustedworking-class famly. They have relatively few ambitions for them-selves or for their children. They continue in close contact withmany people; but they no longer have the same extensiveness ofmutual cooperation in household activities, they cannot "drop in" ascasually as before, they do not have the sense of being surroundedby a famliar area and famliar people. Thus, while their obiectivesituation is not dramatically altered, the changes do involve impor-tant elements of stability and continuity in their lives. They mani-fest the importance of externally available resources for an integralsense of spatial and group identity. However, they have alwaysmaintained a very close marital relationship, an.d their famly pro-vides a substantial basis for a sense of continuity. They can evi-dendy cope with difficulties on the strenggh of their many internaland external resources. Nonetheless, they-have suffered from themove, and find it extremely difficult to reorganize their lives com-pletely in adapting to a new geographical situation and new patternsof social, afftliation. Their grief for a lost home seems to be one formof maintaining continuity on the basis of memories. While itprevents a more wholehearted adiustment to their altered lives, suchadiustments would imply forsaking the remaining fragments of a

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2. There are many simlarities between the Figella famly and theGinliano family. But Mrs. Giuliano shows relatively little pre-relocation commtment to the West End and little post-relocationgrief. Mr. Ginliano was somewhat more deeply involved in theWest End and, although satisfied with the change, feels that reloca-tion was "like hang the rug pulled out from under you." Mr. andMrs. Gnliano are also second-generation Americans, of simlarbackground to the Figellas'. But Mrs. Ginliano only moved tothe West End at her marriage. Mrs. Gnliano had many objectionsto the area: "For me it is too congested. I never did care forit . . . too many barrooms, on every corner, too many famlies inone building .... The sidewalks are too narrow and the kids can'tplay outside." But she does expect to mss the stores and manyfavorite places. Her housing ambitions go beyond West End stand-ards and she wants more space inside and outside. She had no bloodrelatives in the West End but was close to her husband's famly andhad friends nearby.

Mr. Ginliano was born in the West End and he had manyrelatives in the area. He has a relatively high status manual job butonly a modest income. His wife does not complain about thisalthough she is only moderately satisfied with the marriage. In partshe objected to the fact that they went out so little and that he spenttoo much time on the corner with his friends. His social networks inthe West End were more extensive and involved than were Mrs.Gnliano's. And he mssed the West End more than she did after therelocation. But even Mr. Guliano says that, all in all, he is satisfiedwith the change.

Mrs. Guliano feels the change is "wonderful." She mssed herfriends but got over it. And a few of Mr. Guliano's hanging grouplive close by so they can continue to hang together. Both aresatisfied with the house they bought although Mrs. Guliano'sambitions have now gone beyond this. The post-relocation situationhas led to an improved marital relationship: Mr. Guliano is homemore and they go out more together.

Mr. and Mrs. Giuliano exemplify a pattern which seems mostlikely to be associated with a beneficial experience from relocation.

Unlike Mr. and Mrs. Figella, who completely accept their working-class status and are embedded in the social and cultural patterns ofthe working class, Mr. and Mrs. Gnllano show many evidences ofsocial mobility. Mr. Giuliano's present job is, properly speaking,outside the working-class category because of its relatively highstatus and he hJmseif does not "work with his hands." And Mrs.Guliano's housing ambitions, preferences in social relationships,orientation to the class structure, and attitudes toward a variety ofmatters from shopping to child rearing are indications of a readinessto achieve mddle-class status. Mr. Guliano is prepared for and Mrs.Guiiano clearly desires "discontinuity" with some of the centralbases for their former identity. Their present situation is, in fact, atransitional one which allows them to reintegrate their lives at a newand higher status leve , without too precipitate a change. And theirmarital relationship seems sufficiently meaningful to provide a sig-nificant core of continuity in the process of change in their patternsof socia and cultural experience. The lack of grief in this case isquite understandable and appropriate to their patterns of socialorientation and expectation.

3. Yet another pattern is introduced by the Borowski famly, whohad an intense pre-relocation commtment to the West End andrelatively little post-relocation grief. The Borowskis are both second-generation and have four children.

Mrs. Borowski was brought up in the West End but her husbandhas lived there only since the marriage (fifteen years before). Herfeelings about living in the West End were clear: "I love it-it's theonly home I've ever known." She had reservations about the dirt inthe area but loved the people, the places, and the convenience andmaintained an extremely wide circle of friends. They had somerelatives nearby but were primarily oriented towards friends, bothwithin and outside the West End. Mr. Borowski, a highly skilledmanual worker with a moderately higl'.Ancome, was as deeplyattached to the West End as his wife.

Mr. Borowski missed the West End very much but was quitesatisfied with their new situation and could anticipate feeling thor-oughly at home in the new neighborhood. Mrs. Borowski proclaimsthat "home is where you hang your hat; it's up to you to make theadjustments." But she also says, "If I knew the people were comng


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374 / lvxcFgmo cgrEvic Fog A LOST HOME / 375back to the West End, I would pick up this little house and put itback on my comer." She claims she was not sad after relocation bat,when asked how she felt when the building she lived in was torndown, a strangely morbid association is aroused: "It's just like aplant . . . when you tear up its roots, it dies I didn't die but I feltkind of bad. It was home .... Don't look back, try to go ahead."

Despite evidences of underlying grief, both Mr. and Mrs. Borow-ski have already adiusted to the change with remarkable alacrity.They bought a one-famly house and have many friends in the newarea. They do not fed as close to their new neighbors as they did totheir West End friends, and they still maintain extensive contactwith the latter. They are comfortable and happy in their newsurroundings and maintain the close, warm, and mutually apprecia-tive marital relationship they formerly had.

Mr. and Mrs. Borowsld, and particularly Mrs. Borowski, reveal asense of loss which is largely submerged beneath active efforts todeal with the present. It was possible for them to do this bothbecause of personality factors (that is, the ability to deny theintense affective meaning of the change and to detach themselvesfrom highly "cathected" objects with relative ease) and because ofprior social patterns and orientations. Not only is Mr. Borowsld, byoccupation, among the highest group of working-class status, butthis famly has been "transitional" for some time. Remaining in theWest End was clearly a matter of preference for them. They couldhave moved out quite easily on the basis of income; and many oftheir friends were scattered throughout metropolitan Boston. Butwhile they are less self-consciously mobile than the Gulianos, theyhad already shifted to many patterns more typical of the mddleclass before leaving the West End. These ranged from their iointweekly shopping expeditions to their recreational patterns, whichincluded such sports as boating and such regular plans as yearlyvacations. They experienced a disruption in continuity by virtue oftheir former spatial and group identity. But the bases for maintain-ing this identity had undergone many changes over the years; andthey had already established a feeling for places and people, for apotential redefinition of "home" which was less contingent on theimmediate and local availability of familiar spaces and familiarfriends. Despite their preparedness for the move by virtue ofcultural orientation, social experience, and personal disposition, the

change was a considerable wrench for them. But, to the extent thatthey can be categorized as "over-adjusters," the residue of their livesin the West End is primarily a matter of painful memories whichare only occasionally reawakened.

4. The akernate deviant pattern, mnimal pre-relocation com-mtment associated with severe post-relocation grief, is manifestedby Mr. and Mrs. Pagliuca. As in the previous case, this classificationappIies more fully to Mrs. Pagliuca, since Mr. Pagliuca appears tohave had stronger ties to the West End. Mr. Paglinca is a second-generation American but Mrs. Paglinca is first-generation from anurban European background. For both of them, however, there issome evidence that the sadness and regret about the loss of the WestEnd should perhaps be designated as pseudo-grief.

Mrs. Pagliuca had..a difficult time in the West End. But she alsohad a difficult time before that. She moved into the West End whenshe got married. And she complains bitterly about her marriage, herhusband's relatives, West Enders in general. She says of the WestEnd: "I don't like it. The people . . . the buildings are full of rats.There are no places to play for the children." She liked theapartment but complained about the lady downstairs, the dirt, therepairs required, and the coldness during the winter. She alsocomplains a great deal about lack of money. Her husband's wagesare not too low but he seems to have periods of unemployrnent andoften drinks his money away.

Mr. Pagliuca was attached to some of his fr iends and the bars inthe West End. But he didn't like his housing situation there. And' hisreaction tends to be one of bitterness (% rotten deal") rather thanof sadness. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pagliuca are quite satisfied with theirpost-relocation apartment but are thoroughly dissatisfied with thearea. They- have had considerable difficulty with neighbors: "... Idon't like this; people are mean here; my children get blamed foranything and everything; and there's no,transportation near here."She now idealizes the West End and clans that she msses every-thing about it.

Mr. Pagliuca is an unskilled manual laborer. Financial problemscreate a constant focus for difficulty and arguments. But both Mr.and Mrs. Pagliuca appear more satisfied with one another thanbefore relocation. They have four children, some of whom are in


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76 / IVARC FRIED GRIEVINGFORA LOST l-lOVIE / 377legal difficulty. There is also some evidence of past cruelty towardthe children, at least on Mrs. Pagliuca's part.

It is evident from this summary that the Pagliuca famly is deviantin a social as well as in a statistical sense. They show few signs ofadjusting to the move or, for that matter, of any basic potential forsuccessful adjustment to further moves (which they are now plan-ning). It may be that famlies with such initial diflScuMes, with sucha tenuous basis for maintaining a sense of continuity under anycircumstances, suffer most acutely from disruption of these mnimalties. The Paglluca famly has few inner resources and, having lostthe mnimal external resources signified by a gross sense of belong-ing, of being tolerated K not accepted, they appear to be hopelesslyat sea. Although we refer to their grief as "pseudo-grief" on thebasis of the shift from pre-relocation to post-relocation statements,there is a sense in which it is quite real. Wthin the post-relocationinterviews their responses are quite consistent; and a review of M1the data suggests that, akhough their t ies were quite modest, theircurrent difficulties have revealed the importance of these meagerinvolvements and the problems of re-establishing anew an equivalentbasis for identity formation. Thus, even for ir. and Mrs. Pagliuca,we can speak of the disruption in the sense of continuity, althoughthis continuity was based on a very fragile experience of mnimalcomfort, with famliar places and relatively tolerant people. Theirgrief reaction, pseudo or real, may further influence (and beinfluenced by) dissatisfactions with any new residential situation.The fact that it is based on an idealized past accentuates rather thanmnimzes its effect on current expectations and behavior.

basis of knowledge and understanding, that we learn to deal moreeffectively with the problems engendered.

In evaluating these data on the effect of pre-relocation experi-ences on post-relocation reactions of grief, we have arrived at anumber of conclusions:

CONCLUSIONSGrieving for a lost home is evidently a widespread and serious socialphenomenon following in the wake of urban dislocation. It is likelyto increase social and psychological "pathology" in a limted num-ber of instances; and it is also likely to create new opportunities forsome, and to increase the rate of social mobility for others. For thegreatest number, dislocation is unlikely to have either effect butdoes lead to intense personal suffering despite moderately successfuladaptation to the total situation of relocation. Under these circum-stances, it becomes most critical that we face the realit ies of theeffects of relocation on working-class residents of slums and, on the

1. The affective reaction to the loss of the West End can be quiteprecisely described as a grief response shoMng most of the charac-teristics of grief and mourning for a lost person.

2. One of the important components of the grief reaction is thefragmentation of the sense of spatial identity. This is manifest, notonly in the pre-relocation experience of the spatial area as anexpanded "home," but in the varying degrees of grief followingrelocation, arising from variations in the pre-relocation orientationto and use of local spatial regions.

3. Another component, of equal importance, is the dependence ofthe sense of group identity on stable, social networks. Dislocationnecessarily led to the fragmentation of this group identity whichw based, to such a large extent, on the external availability andovert contact with famliar groups of people.

4. Associated with these "cognitive" components, described asthe sense of spatial identity and the sense of group identity, arestrong affective qualities. We have not tried to delineate them butthey appear to fall into the realm of a feeling of security in andcommtment to the external spatial and group patterns which are thetangible, visible aspects of these identity components. However, apredisposition to depressive reactions also markedly affects .thedepth of grief reaction.

5. Theoretically, we can speak of spatial and group identity as-critical foci of the sense of continuity. This sense of continuity isnot necessarily contingent on the external stab.ility of place, people,and security or support. But for the working class these concrete,external resources and the experience of, stability, availability, andfamliarity which they provide are essential for a meaningful senseof continuity. Thus, dislocation and the loss of the residential arearepresent a fragmentation of some of the essential components ofthe sense of continuity in the working class.

It is in the light of these observations and conclusions that wemust consider problems of social planning which are associated withthe changes induced by physical planning for relocation. Urban

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GRIEV1Na FOR A LOST HOME / 379planning cannot be limited to "bricks and mortar." While thesedata tell us little about the importance of housing or the aspects ofhousing which are important, they indicate that considerations of anon-housing nature are critical. There is evidence, for example, thatthe frequency of the grief response is not affected by such housingfactors as increase or decrease in apartment size or home ownership.But physical factors may be of great importance when related to thesubjective significance of different spatial and physical arrange-ments, or to their capacity for gratifying different socio-culmralgroups. For the present, we can only stress the importance of localareas as spatial and social arrangements which are central to the livesof working-class people. And, in view of the enormous importanceof such local areas, we are led to consider the convergence offamliar people and famliar places as a focal consideration in formu-lating planning decisions.

We can learn to deal with these problems only through research,through exploratory and imaginative service programs, and througha more careful consideration of the place of residential stability insalvaging the precarious thread of continuity. The outcomes ofcrises are always manifold and, iust as there is an increase in strainand difficulty, so also there is an increase in opportunities foradapting at a more satisfying level of functioning. The )udicious useof mnimal resources of counseling and assistance may permt m,yworking-class people to reorganize and integrate a meaningful senseof spatial and group identity under the challenge of social change.Only a relatively small group of those whose functioning has alwaysbeen marginal and who cannot cope with the added strain ofadjusting to wholly new problems are likely to require maior formsof intervention.

In general, our results would imply the necessity for providingincreased opportunities for maintaining a sense of continuity forthose people, mainly from the working class, whose residential areasare being renewed. This may involve several factors: (1) dimnish-ing the amount of drastic redevelopment and the consequent massdemolition of property and mass dislocation from homes; (2)providing more frequently for people to move within their formerresidential areas during and after the renewal; and (3) when disloca-tion and relocation are unavoidable, planning the relocation possi-bilities in order to provide new areas which can be assimlated to old

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objectives. A closer examnation of slum areas may even providesome concrete information regarding specific physical variables, thephysical and spatial arrangements typical of slum areas and slumhousing, which offer considerable gratification to the residents.These may often be translated into effective modern architecturaland areal design. And, in coniunction with planning decisions whichtake more careful account of the human consequences of urbanphysical change, it is possible to utilize social, psychological, andpsychiatric services. The use of highly sldlled resources, includingopportunities for the education of professional and even lay person-ne in largely unfamliar problems and methods, can mnim ze someof the more destructive and widespread effects of relocation; and,for some famlies, can offer constructive experiences in dealing withnew adaptational possi'bilities. The problem is large. But only byassuring the integrity of some of the external bases for the sense ofcontinuity in the working class, and by maximzing the opportuni-ties for meaningful adaptation, can we accomplish planned urbanchange without serious hazard to human welfare.

Documents

Grieving for a Lost Home: Psychological Costs of Relocation