ABSTRACT
This essay uses evidence from 217 violence cases between cohabiting couples to investigate the reaction of neighbors to irregular relationships. Ostracism was rare as long as the couples did not flaunt their status, for a number of reasons. First, working-class families lived in tenements and row housing that promoted cooperation for survival. Second, women preferred to live near their kin, and families were less disapproving, as they knew the reason for the cohabitation. Third, neighbors often stepped in to fulfill familial roles if kin were absent, encouraging both sisterly and motherly bonds in particular. Fourth, both men and women intervened, though in different ways. Men's participation was especially facilitated by their use of public houses, which was a liminal space that permitted freer discussion of men's personal lives. Fourth, neighborhood values delineated the ‘blame’ for problem families carefully; both men and women could face disapproval for flouting gender norms. Overall, neighbors parsed the reasons for cohabitation, the harm done by the couple to others, and whether the couple was disruptive in other ways before accepting or rejecting cohabitants in their midst. Indeed, drunkenness and violence was more of a problem than sexual nonconformity in most of these cases.
