Vulnerabilities in Local Contexts

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Abstract
Meso-level contexts (e.g., neighbourhood or community contexts) have a profound influence on vulnerability trajectories. They may mediate, mitigate, or reinforce the impact of variables such as gender, age or social class. This chapter studies how meso-level economic factors cushion or worsen the negative effects of adverse circumstances on people’s socio-economic trajectories, health outcomes, or political attitudes. This chapter showcases four case studies, which show: (1) that meso-level labour market contexts can alter the size of the penalties associated with low levels of educational attainment or a more disadvantaged background for young people seeking employment for the first time; (2) that meso-level social networks act as multipliers of inequality; close social ties in the neighbourhood increase the probability of exiting unemployment in resourceful neighbourhoods, whereas they decrease the probability of unemployment exits in deprived neighbourhoods; (3) that people residing in locations with higher levels of income inequality perceive others as being more competitive, which produces paradoxical effects on their self-rated health and undermines the psychological health of the most economically vulnerable; (4) how the confrontation with meso-level inequality and diversity shapes people’s beliefs in meritocracy and examine how everyday experiences of local inequality reinforces or weakens people’s belief in meritocratic value.
Funding Information
  • Swiss National Science Foundation

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