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Table 2 Differences between Social Contacts of Manual and Non-Manual Workers
Social contacts Households that frequently invited social contacts home Households that frequently went out with social contacts Manual Non-manual Manual Non-manual Close Relatives 50.5% 52.9% 61.9% 52.9% Kin 11.6 9.2 9.8 12.6 Work-mates 14.0 17.2 8.8 11.5 Neighbours 1.4 1.1 1.4 0.0 Friends and Others 11.2 14.9 10.7 16.1 None 11.6 4.6 7.4 6.9 Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% (215) (87) (215) (87)Did residential mobility uproot social ties and weaken kinship relationships when the families moved into Oi Man? We asked the respondents if their social contact with different categories of people became "more frequent", were "as frequent", or became "less frequent" after they moved into the estate. The responses, tabulated in Table 3, suggest that about half of the respondents did not feel that moving changed the frequency of their contact with these people. But of the other half, more felt that moving made them see their "close relatives", "kin" and "workmates" less frequently, but their "neighbours" more frequently.
Frequency of Contact Close Relatives Kin Workmates Neighbours More frequent 15.0% 4.1% 15.1% 41.1% As frequent 54.0 57.1 62.1 40.9 Less frequent 31.0 38.8 22.8 18.0 Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% (413) (394) (363) (406) No response (7) (26) (57) (14)(x2 = 211.48 df = 6 Significant at 0.0001 level)