My fate rests depends on not only whether I study, stay off drug, go to church, but also on whether my neighbours do the same.

In Chicago young black men who live in neighborhoods with lots of white-collar professionals are more than three times as likely to graduate from high school than are comparable young men who live in neighborhoods with less educated residents. These and dozens more studies suggest that people are profoundly motivated not merely by their own choices and circumstances, but also by the choices and circumstances of their neighbors. My fate rests depends on not only whether I study, stay off drug, go to church, but also on whether my neighbors do the same.

D. Putnam, Bowling Alone (2000), 312