URBAN THEORY, URBANISM, AND SUBURBAN RESIDENCE

Data from a 1972 three-state survey are used to compare city, suburban , town, and rural dwellers in terms of five urbanism characteristics: (1) anonymity, (2) tolerance, (3) community social bonds, (4) alienati on, and (5) deviant behavior. Suburbanites displayed less urbanism tha n city dwellers, but they did not differ much from other noncity peopl e in this regard. In fact, residents of the various types of settlemen t do not fall on a neat continuum of urbanism from country to town to suburb to city. The dominant pattern is simply a city-noncity differen tiation, although there are a few anomalies. These results suggest tha t urban theories have limited usefulness for understanding urbanism am ong suburbanites, but they also reveal so little evidence of suburban distinctiveness that it may not require a unique explanation beyond th at needed to account for simple urban-nonurban differences.