Youth and Social Capital [Hardcover]

Social capital arising from social networks based on trust has been traditionally seen as the property of adults from which the younger generation gain benefit. Far less attention has been given to the production of social capital among young people themselves, in making the transition from dependent child to independent adult. Through findings from research groups in Finland and England, this book fills the gap by examining how young people develop and use social capital in different contexts at school and outside, in cementing friendships, in developing identity, in smoothing the passage through education and from school to work, and in resisting coercion into pre-designated adult roles. As part of the developing field of youth studies, the book will be of much interest to academics and policy makers and practitioners working with young people.

Youth and social capital

Helena Helve and John Bynner

Social capital and young people

Since the pioneering efforts of James Coleman and Robert Putnam in the U.S.A. and Pierre Bourdieu in France in establishing the idea of social capital few people in policy, social science and social science circles need convincing of the importance of trust-based relations in social and economic life. The cohesive quality of trust and the opening up of opportunities and mutual support through social networks is now seen as a form of capital that all societies need to promote. But it is also recognised that such `bonding' social capital needs to be tempered by `bridging' and `linking' social capital to ensure that cohesion is fostered between as well as within social groups. The Canadian psychologist James Côté takes the idea further in seeing the different forms of social capital as significant components of what he describes as `identity capital'. This encompasses a role for social capital in the expressions of identity and active agency, which are at an increasing premium in a rapidly changing and increasingly globalised society. The loosening of borders and widening immigration present new opportunities for societal development. They also bring new forms of tension between communities defined by ideological and religious conviction. Building social capital supplies the critical means of resolving the potential conflict and ensuring positive growth.

Research on social capital has generally addressed the situation of adults and the communities in which they live. Far less attention has been directed at younger age-groups, adolescents particularly, but also children. They are typically seen as gaining the benefits of social capital in education and the transition to work largely through the social capital of their parents. However, young people in their move towards autonomy and independence from their parents transfer their allegiance increasingly to the peer group. This supplies the means of resolving identity conflicts and coping with uncertainties on the route to adulthood. Young people's social capital is therefore of major interest in its own right.

Contents of the book

This book, written by authors mainly from England and Finland, is intended as a source book in a non-traditional sense for students and faculty in youth studies, and it will also be of much interest to youth policy makers and practitioners working with young people.

The book consists of five sections: Introduction; Youth and Capitals; Social Capital and Identity; Social Networks in Education; and Transitions and Potentials. Each section contains a response from an expert who offers his or her personal perspectives on the papers' themes. The chapters provide much in-depth analysis of issues such as inventing adulthoods, ethnic and religious identities, adolescent's goal-related social ties, education and juvenile crime, the potential for change within and across generations. The book gives youth workers, researchers, and policy makers important and timely information about young people's social capital from different life perspectives in different contexts.

The Youth and Capitals section is divided into four topic areas focusing on issues related to social, cultural and human capital especially in studying youth and adulthood from a number of different perspectives.

The second topic, Social Capital and Identity (three chapters) embraces the more general topic of ethnic identity through a case study of Caribbean young people in Britain and religious identity through a study of the Seventh -day Adventists in Finland.

The third topic area (three chapters) focuses on Social Networks in Education. This section draws upon the findings which explore how both children and parents use their networks and resources, broadly their social capital in England and Finland, and how education can have a potentially large influence on individual propensities to offend.

The fourth topic area (four chapters) focuses on Transitions and Potentials in England and Finland. Across most societies the timing of transitions into adult roles has extended from the early to the late twenties, or even into the early thirties. The average age of primary employment, marriage and family formation has been pushed back, as more education and skill development is required to take on adult roles. The period of preparation for adulthood has been elongated, especially for those who can afford to invest in their human capital, bringing with it a polarisation between fast and slow track transitions. Early life transitions such as young motherhood can have developmental consequences, setting in motion a chain of cumulative advantage and disadvantage, with implications for subsequent transitions in other life domains.

The papers making up the content of the book offer an exceptionally rich array of evidence to illuminate its major themes. They also highlight the challenges to conventional thinking and the methodological issues that future research and theory in the field of social capital needs to address.

What have we learned about young people's social capital

The strongest message is that young people's networks and trust-based relationships are not only a manifestation of growing up as a `sub-cultural response' to the oppressive structures and instruments of coercion of the adult world, but a vital means of demonstrating how society can shape up to the new. In seeking to weaken, if not to sever, the strong ties to family that are the hallmark of childhood, adolescents find their own modes and strategies for relating to each other and the wider world, which in many respects matches modern realities better than those of adults. Their social capital is thus not only of immediate value in supplying a kind of security in the teenage world but through use of new technology--mobile phones and the internet--offers models that may be of vital importance to effective adult functioning now and especially in the future.

Over all we think the book takes a valuable step towards understanding the largely uncharted territory of young people's social capital. By doing so it opens the doors to the new programmes of research and action that will be central to supporting the achievement of identity and effective functioning in the late modern world.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.