Although communication may take place more easily among people who share similar attributes and have similar attitudes and beliefs, such communication may be in large measure redundant: no new informtion enters the system. For the diffusion of new information, the existence of some "heterophilous" relationships seems to be a structural prerequisite. The following article offers evidence bearing on this proposition.

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This study focuses on why some widows were satisfied in retirement communities and some were not. Satisfied widows were more socially active and were the majority in the community. Widows and married differed in social interactions contingent on which group was in the majority. The ratio of marrieds to widows in a community may lead to different social interaction in the two groups which, in turn, may influence widows' satisfaction.

Using examples from studies of dance clubs, the authors offer a solution for dealing with the problems of maintaining the optimal research distance in field investigations. This method is based on teamwork, in which one researcher assumes the role of participant-as-observer and the other has the role of observer-as-participant. In addition to describing the developments of the two roles, the authors provide firsthand accounts of common pitfalls in fieldwork and how they have handled them.