Wednesday, 04 April 2007

Neighbourhoods, parenting and children

Down_our_wayI first heard Jacqueline Barnes talking about her research into families, parenting and neighbourhoods about three years ago and I couldn't understand why the whole world didn't know about it. I've referred to it a few times here (eg) and now it's time to welcome the book -
Down our way: the relevance of neighbourhoods for parenting and child development. It's published by Wiley and also available via Amazon.

The study threw up findings about informal social control which I've discussed in the past, but I maybe wasn't expecting the interesting focus in chapter six on the importance of local friends:

Many newcomers found that it was not easy to develop local friendships and without those it was a challenge to become involved with local campaigns or local schools.

I'm also fascinated by the question raised in chapter 9 - 'Is it better to belong to the neighbourhood?' about the tensions affecting involvement, withdrawal indoors, or moving away.

The challenge is to include in local activism those parents who feel particularly alienated from their community... Neighbourhoods that offer safe streets allow parents to walk around and chat to other local residents in informal ways could facilitate network development, which in turn is likely to strengthen their sense of belonging, and neighbourhood cohesion. Local authorities will need to develop coordinated strategies that offer more chances for local neighbourhood engagement from the most disenfranchised (no easy task) in conjunction with improving the physical environment.

If your pocket money won't stretch to buying a copy and you can't wait til Christmas, make sure your library gets it for you.

4 Apr 2007 12:16:42 | Neighbourhood relations, Social capital

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Stocktaking Europe's well-being A few weeks ago the European Commission launched an open-ended consultation based on an impressive-looking paper by Roger Liddle and Fréderic Lerais, Europe's social reality. The paper looks at common patterns in the contrasting experiences of member states and at how 'social changes can be assessed against benchmarks of well-being.' It then attempts to open a debate about some of the key factors that contribute to well-being – such as economic opportunity, the changing nature of work, the challenges of the ageing society, demography and new patterns of family life, poverty and inequality, the barriers to good health and social mobility, quality of life, crime and anti-social behaviour, and diversity and multiculturalism. So the Commission is seeking views on the implications of social trends and the identification and assessment of the factors contributing to well-being in Europe. The first thing that strikes me from a quick-scan of the paper is that perhaps there could be more emphasis on the decline in, and restoration of, forms of collective behaviour. Press release.

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