This chapter examines both the local lives and engagements of respondents and the ‘localness’ of their lives. It first looks at people’s sense of the locality in which they live. Particular questions were asked about this and it also came up spontaneously at different points in the interviews. One of the questions running through the chapter is the extent to which people are socially isolated or locally engaged. Hence, the second part of the chapter looks at friendship networks and also involvement with neighbours. The chapter then goes on to piece together other elements of life locally, looking at people's use of a range of local services and considering how they see their own involvement in the local community. Finally, the chapter discusses respondents’ evaluations of how they and their family compare with others in terms of various aspects of standard of living. The chapter as a whole seeks to reveal the meaning of locality and neighbourhood in people’s understandings of their situation and how they view themselves vis-àvis others in a similar situation. Underlying this and the next chapter are questions about what is acceptable behaviour from people in this income situation and how they are faced with particular expectations. The respondents’ accounts can be taken therefore as a mirror in which are reflected societal patterns and expectations.

The locality and family life

A number of striking points emerged in regard to local life. The first was the localness of family life (and of life in general). Most people’s lives were encompassed by a geographical area no larger than a mile or two (especially if they lived in urban areas). Their spatial (and arguably also social and cultural) spaces of interest and interaction were miniaturised (Savage, 2010, p 27). This was for two main reasons. The first was money – and in particular the high costs of transport. Whether people had their own car (which was a minority situation and the case mainly for rural dwellers) or needed to use public transport, the cost of travelling outside the area made journeys strikingly rare. People saw themselves as making only essential journeys (mainly interpreted as taking children to school, for shopping, for medical and other official appointments or to visit family).