The ambivalent implications of strong belonging for young people living in poor neighborhoods

Abstract

It is a now a commonplace observation that globalization is widely transforming everyday lives, and this includes a practical and symbolic significance of neighborhoods. Experiences of personal and social belonging, grounded in positive attachments to local neighborhoods, have long been considered as important in promoting personal well-being and local social cooperation. Social connections with family and friends, however, are detaching from local neighborhood settings and becoming more spatially dispersed. Metaphors of movement and flow are increasingly used to evoke qualities of contemporary personal, social, and economic life. Social inclusion is conceived as being part of the flows, while problems of socio exclusion and marginalization are experienced as immobility. Paradoxically, neighborhoods are both less and more important in everyday life. They are less important because there is generally diminishing dependence on them to meet everyday needs for services, support, and companionship, yet they have heightening significance in providing access to social, economic, and symbolic resources.