Madeleine Leonard

Bonding and Bridging Social Capital: Reflections from Belfast

The purpose of this article is to question whether the concept of social capital has anything original to offer for understanding why some communities have weaker networks compared to others. Drawing on an empirical example from Belfast, the article illustrates that the themes embedded in social capital have a long history. Moreover, rather than a benign phenomenon, social capital excludes as well as includes community members within its networks. While Putnam (2000) tries to deal with this negative effect through his distinction between ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ social capital, his analysis is flawed. Moving from bonding to bridging social capital is beset with contradictions. In order to set in motion the framework for bridging social capital to emerge, the conditions that led to the development of bonding social capital need to be undermined. However, removing the rationale for the existence of bonding social capital by no means ensures that the path is paved for the development of bridging social capital.The article examines some of the problematic aspects of this transition through an examination of community networks and relationships in one Catholic community in West Belfast. Here, the wider political conflict in Northern Ireland facilitated the development of bonding social capital, while the peace process provided opportunities for bridging social capital to strengthen and develop. The example indicates that the exclusion aspect of social capital persists in the transition from bonding to bridging social capital.

Children, Childhood and Social Capital: Exploring the Links

This article is concerned with exploring how children develop and utilize stocks of social capital. It draws on two research projects illustrating children’s family, peer and community networks. In the burgeoning literature on social capital, children’s accounts remain under-researched. Indeed most of the literature operates with a simplistic view of adults passing social capital assets on to children without a subsequent consideration of how children perceive and make use of existing networks and create and manage additional networks. The article will examine the limited treatment of children and childhood in the conceptualization of social capital put forward by Putnam, Coleman and Bourdieu. One of the most important attributes of social capital is its supposed ability to be converted into other forms of capital. A focus on children’s networks calls into question the ease with which social capital can be transformed into other types of capital.

Old wine in new bottles? women working inside and outside the household

Abstract Traditional gender ideologies concerning the domestic division of labour and responsibility for childcare continue to influence the circumstances under which women are brought into formal and informal employment. The implications of this for different groups of married women are explored in the article. The first section of the article outlines the continued survival of the traditional sexual division of labour within the home and the impact this has on women who work outside the home. The second part focuses on women drawn into the labour market as informal domestic workers, while the third looks at women employed within the home as homeworkers. The fourth section of the article illustrates how men continue to be the ultimate beneficiaries of the sexual division of domestic labour, and the final part examines how women attempt to cope with the resilience of the traditional sexual division of labour.

Teens and territory in contested spaces: Negotiating sectarian interfaces in Northern Ireland

Abstract The purpose of this article is to examine childrens experiences of territory in one location in Northern Ireland. The research draws on stories, maps and focus group interviews with 80 children aged between 14–15 years of age, living in one of the most contested interface areas in Northern Ireland. Interface areas are locations where Catholics and Protestants live side by side in segregated communities divided by peace walls and other symbolic boundaries. Within these spaces, children made distinctions between place and territory. Place was referred to in relation to physical features of the surrounding landscape but more importantly as spaces where family and friendship ties were paramount. Territory on the other hand was referred to in terms of Protestant and Catholic identity.

Children's Views on Children's Right to Work: Reflections from Belfast

The purpose of this article is to examine children’s attitudes regarding the right to work. The article is based on comments made by 245 15-year-old children on child employment and is supported by focus group interviews with 56 boys and 38 girls and tape-recorded interviews with 15 working pupils. One of most dominant themes to emerge from the data is children’s perception that they have a right to work. The article examines the legislation regarding child employment in Northern Ireland and the role of the state in determining the legislation. The author suggests that within this legislation, children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection. Traditionally the protection of children in the workforce has been achieved by limiting the hours they can work and the occupations they can enter. Yet when children’s own views are taken into account, they move beyond the limits of protecting them through exclusion to suggesting frameworks whereby their protection may be achieved by empowering them within the labour market.

Social and Subcultural Capital Among Teenagers in Northern Ireland

This article makes a case for the inclusion of subcultural capital as an indictor of social capital networks in the lives of teenagers. It does so by critiquing approaches that assume that adult measures of social capital can be nonproblematically extended to account for stocks of social capital held by younger generations. To illustrate the fallacy of this approach, this article draws on data from the 2003 Northern Ireland Young Life and Times Survey (NIYLTS) and the indicators used to explore the relevance of social capital in the lives of teenagers. By ignoring concepts such as subcultural capital, surveys such as the NILYTS provide partial frameworks for understanding the complexities of young peoples links to social capital networks and their inclusive and exclusive effects.

Parochial Geographies: Growing up in Divided Belfast

This article explores the ways in which teenagers occupy and manage space in one divided community in Northern Ireland. Drawing on stories, maps and focus group discussions with 80 teenagers, from an interface area in Belfast, the article reveals their perceptions and experiences of divided cities, as risky landscapes. Teenagers respond to these risks in various ways, at times reiterating traditional sectarian prejudices and at times demonstrating resilience in coping with growing up in a risky location. In the process, young people develop strategies of resistance, which at times support, and at times undermine, the wider ideologies underpinning ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland.

Children's Drawings as a Methodological Tool: Reflections on the Eleven Plus System in Northern Ireland:

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the growing debates about appropriate methodologies for researching childrens lives. I intend to outline the usefulness of using drawings as a methodological tool. This method was one of three used in a study concerned with examining childrens experiences of doing the Eleven Plus. This is an exam taken by the majority of 10–11 year old children in Northern Ireland. The advantages and disadvantages of employing drawings in research with children will be explored. Drawing is generally considered by adults to be a common form of expression for children. However, the article will question its relevance as a method of obtaining data on how children view their social worlds.

Working on Your Doorstep Child Newspaper Deliverers in Belfast

One of the most common forms of employment for children in the UK is newspaper delivery work. The occupation is portrayed as ideally suitable for young teenagers as it enables them to combine attending school with part-time employment. However, as this article demonstrates, the reality is far removed from this rosy image. Drawing on empirical work carried out in Belfast in 1998, the article illustrates the heterogeneous nature of newspaper delivery work. The article demonstrates this by examining the hours worked, wage levels and general working conditions of newspaper deliverers in Belfast. The article also challenges the notion that the work that children commonly do tends to provide them with few transferable skills.

Bringing Down the Walls: Young People's Perspectives on Peace Walls in Belfast

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present young peoples attitudes to peace‐walls in Belfast and whether they feel that these peace‐walls should be temporary or permanent structures.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on questionnaire responses from 125 young people between the ages of 14 and 15 from six schools located in areas in Belfast where Catholics and Protestants live side by side yet apart. The paper is also based on their responses to photo prompts, focus group discussions and images of peace‐walls drawn by some of the young people.Findings – The young people produced six discourses on peace‐walls in Belfast and these are outlined in the paper.Research limitations/implications – The paper endorses the necessity of incorporating young peoples views of peace‐walls in Belfast as a prelude to finding ways in which to challenge taken‐for‐granted assumptions about the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland.Originality/value – The paper is original in that it addresses t...