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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Impact of Neighbourhood-Level Factors on Children's Everyday Lives, Well-Being and Identity: A Qualitative Study of Children Living in Ocean View, Cape Town
Author:Moses, SusanISNI
Year:2006
Periodical:Social Dynamics
Volume:32
Issue:1
Pages:102-134
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:children
adolescents
urban environment
neighbourhoods
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Urbanization and Migration
Miscellaneous (i.e. Demography, Refugees, Sports)
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533950608628721
Abstract:Drawing on qualitative data generated over fifteen months by children aged six to eighteen, this article explores the ways in which neighbourhood and community spaces of Ocean View impact on the lives of children living there.The article draws particular attention to the way in which the legacy of Ocean View's particular sociopolitical history continues to impact on children, through the interaction of physical, social and economic features which limit their everyday lives to the spaces and people within Ocean View. This affects children's access to resources, hampers integration, and impacts on their self and collective efficacy. Children's individual preferences, skills and personalities are shown to affect how they cope with difficulties and respond to available opportunities and supports. The article draws attention to how children generate their social environment and attach meaning to physical spaces around them, emphasizing the variety and creativity of the tactics they employ to negotiate their everyday environments. Finally the article argues that by failing to recognize the specific and dynamic processes in which children's social networks are embedded, traditional approaches to understanding neighbourhood effects (such as social capital and social disorganization theories) over-simplify and over-generalize the operation of social dynamics. The author argues for moving away from focussing on the impact of discrete neighbourhood features to a focus on the environmental processes that benefit children. This requires a broader approach to researching 'neighbourhood effects' which encompasses children's perceptions and agency, internal and external power dynamics, and the interaction of sociopolitical, physical, and economic aspects of children's environments. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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