NEIGHBORHOODS AND INEQUALITY: THE POSSIBILITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD

Abstract

The transition to adulthood involves risk. In the 90s, sociologists have focused on the question of understanding and managing this risk. Much of this research has tried to go beyond family characteristics and examine the possible role of community or neighborhood. Furstenberg (2000) concludes, however, that the research “on adolescent behaviors has not shown a strong impact of the quality of neighborhoods, independent of the demographic characteristics of the resident families” (p. 902). The exploratory research reported in this paper on suburban neighborhoods, however, suggests that the neighborhood may have effects that have not yet been fully examined. Two problems with the previous research are highlighted. First is the problem of the definition of neighborhood in contrast to community, a continuing problem in neighborhood research. The second is that this research has largely focused on urban neighborhoods; the success of adolescents in suburban neighborhood contexts has not been highlighted. The result is that the focus of these studies has been more on poverty; this paper, however, will focus on inequality in contrasting the situation of adolescents in white suburban neighborhoods to that found in the inner city.

Citation

Bould, S. (2003), "NEIGHBORHOODS AND INEQUALITY: THE POSSIBILITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD", Sociological Studies of Children and Youth (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 49-66. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1537-4661(03)09004-4