A room for living: Private and public aspects in the experience of the living room

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Abstract

This paper presents findings from a study on people's uses and experiences of their living rooms. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with sixteen middle-class residents of the Metropolitan New York area. Interviews were conducted in participants' living rooms, and were supplemented by observations, sketches and still-photographs. In the past, social scientists have viewed the living room as serving the purpose of communicating the dwellers' image to guests. Findings from the present study show that dwellers may use their living rooms not only to host guests, but also for their own solitary uses, as well as for sharing time with partners. All uses were found to be meaningful and pertinent to the dwelling experience. Findings also reveal that the living room may provide opportunities for intimacy between dwellers and their partners, as well as between dwellers and their guests. For all participants living rooms contained objects that were highly meaningful to them. It is suggested that objects in the living rooms are used to instigate and mediate contemplation about significant others, as well as to regulate the amount of intimacy desired with guests.

Introduction

According to previous research, the living room is mostly used to communicate self and social identity to guests (e.g., Amaturo et al., 1987, Cooper, 1974, Goffman, 1959, Korosec-Serfaty, 1984, Laumann and House, 1970). Thus, the communication of identity was highlighted, while researchers paid less attention to more personal and private meanings.

A more recent study that investigated the dwelling experiences of inhabitants of studios and shared apartments in New York City (Rechavi, 1996) found that participants created spaces in their rooms that included a large seating item, in front of which was a coffee-table, or beside which was an end table. These wall-less “living rooms” were used for hosting guests, as well as for the leisure activities of the dwellers. The fact that dwellers of such small spaces set aside an area resembling a living room suggested that living rooms were central to the experience of home, and that the living room may afford a richness of experience that had not yet been explored. The current paper presents some findings from a study that attempted to more fully understand dwellers' experiences of their living rooms, as reflected in their own descriptions.

Section snippets

Literature review

The present study was guided by the grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990), and did not test hypotheses deducted from existing literature. However, the findings of the present study did bring up hypotheses of relevance to previous literature and, thus, open up new debates and avenues of research. Therefore, before describing the present study, it is worthwhile to review the general research context in which it can be situated. More specific comments regarding past studies will be

Research design and methods

Based on the grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990), this study was guided by the data collected, rather than by a-priori hypotheses. Analysis of the data led to formulations of hypotheses that will be presented in the discussion.

Sketches of the living room and the floor/apartment where the living room was located, still-photographs of the living rooms, and observations of the living rooms supplemented the interviews. Interviews yielded the bulk of the data. The sketches (see Fig. 1)

A description of the living rooms

Despite the fact that different types of dwellings were included in this study, ranging from apartments to brownstones, rented to owned, small one bedrooms to two-floor houses, and despite the fact that the dwellers represented people of both genders, of different age groups, and of different economic abilities, the living rooms of all the participants shared several common themes. For one, all included a couch. In addition, fourteen out of the sixteen participants (87%) had an additional seat

Discussion and hypotheses generated

All participants, but one, spent a great deal of time in the living room by themselves. They used the living room to watch television, write, read, look out the window and frequently to contemplate. Architectural features alone, such as numbers of rooms, could not account for this use. All participants in this study used their living rooms to host guests. Hosting ranged from infrequent big parties with tens of people attending to smaller gatherings with close friends and family. Most

Limitations and future research

Previously in this paper, factors leading to the multifunctional middle-class living room that emerged during the early 20th century were described. However, beginning in 1950s, many middle-class homes were constructed with family rooms in addition to living rooms, especially in the suburbs. Most of the homes included in the present study were constructed before the Second World War, and none of the homes chosen for this study, other than one, had a family room. Future studies might compare the

Acknowledgments

The author is most grateful to the participants who welcomed her into their homes, and shared their life-stories with her. Without their help this study would never have taken place. This manuscript owes a great deal to Professor Maxine Wolfe for her very generous and invaluable ongoing counsel. The author also wishes to express her gratitude for the excellent guidance of Professor Leanne Rivlin and Dr. David Chapin. Special thanks to Drs. Dalit and Marc Robinson-Rechavi for their crucial piece

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