Conflicts, friendship cliques and territorial displays in senior center environments

Humans are territorial, laying claim to places and objects as a way of regulating social interaction and fulfilling a variety of social motives. We observed territoriality to facilitate both inclusionary and exclusionary group behaviors within senior center spaces. We observed approximately 300 participants over 120 h and interviewed 30 participants in three multipurpose senior centers. Territories supported group identity and interaction for friends who shared dining tables in two centers. However, those two centers also had frequent dining area territorial conflicts and few other spaces or opportunities for meaningful center participation. The conflicts entailed the reinforcement of social cliques at the cost of exclusion of others. A third center exhibited fewer territorial conflicts and a wider variety of shared and attractive settings, such as a living room and hobby rooms. In addition, strong self-governance of this center allowed participants to lay claim to the entire center, rather than relying on ownership of specific dining seats.