In transition: young people in Northern Ireland growing up in, and out of, divided communities

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Abstract
The history of Northern Ireland has created communities that display high levels of intra-community trust and localized networking associated with ‘bonding’ social capital. Political and social changes brought about by the ‘peace process’ have created possibilities for greater inter-community contact and potential for the generation of ‘bridging’ social capital. Growing up in this period of transition, young people in the Inventing Adulthoods study have been affected by and have responded to these changes, and to the experience of sectarianism and violence, in different ways. This paper explores the biographical journeys of a small number of young people from 1996 to 2006, and considers how ethnic and territorial boundaries have shaped the social and spatial fabric of their lives. It asks to what extent and how young people growing up in spaces characterized by networks, values and social relationships that are indicative of bonding social capital, can straddle boundaries and access and generate bridging social capital.

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