Children’s Social Capital in the Segregated Context of Amsterdam

Abstract

This paper addresses children’s social capital across space and over time. Empirical evidence comes from an in-depth study of changes in children’s daily lives in Amsterdam over the past 50 years. Different dimensions of religious and ethnic segregation at school and in the neighbourhood have influenced children’s capacity to build social capital. The main conclusion is that children’s social capital in two out of three selected neighbourhoods has narrowed considerably. Children today have lost many of the loose social ties across age, class, religion and ethnicity. It is not only the segregated school choice that lies at the heart of this narrowing process; schools have always reflected parents’ status, whether in religious or in class terms. It is also the loss of children’s agency on the street that contributes to the decline in children’s bridging social capital.