Growing up in the Closed City. Patterns of (Durable) Social Segregation Among Migrant Youth from Berlin
Growing up in the Closed City. Patterns of (Durable) Social Segregation Among Migrant Youth from Berlin
Wednesday, 9 July 2025: 14:00
Location: ASJE014 (Annex of the Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences)
Oral Presentation
Following the assumption that for some social groups the city is more closed than for others, this paper examines perspectives and paths of young residents who grew up in a stigmatized housing estate surrounded by gentrified areas in Berlin’s inner city. The fact that privileged members of a predominantly white middle class and socially disadvantaged, mostly migrant groups live close to each other does not necessarily mean that social mixing develops. Hence, recent studies suggest taking a closer look at segregated social uses of the city.
The analysis is based on data from two related research projects in the same neighbourhood, conducted in 2017/18 and 2023/24 with a qualitative research design, including individual and group interviews (with focus on youth), expert interviews (with street-level-bureaucrats) and participant observation (at relevant local sites). Some key findings concerning the everyday challenges of mostly male youngsters from ca. six years ago revealed that they had similar routines back then: they spent a lot of time in the local streets and youth clubs (when not banned from them); they had a strong sense of local belonging, despite conflicts with neighbours or the police; they experienced uncertainties connected to poverty, racism and lack of perspective but also had plans for a better future. How are these adolescents doing today? Through follow-up interviews and vignettes the partially very different paths - ranging from college to imprisonment - will be contrasted and analyzed by asking: which circumstances increased the youth’s marginalization and criminalization, and which possibly empowered them to develop towards a more inclusive, stable future? The additional findings emphasize that such longitudinal data that is rarely collected in sociology is highly relevant for a deeper understanding of social processes and mechanisms that influence the (re-)production of urban inequalities for vulnerable youth.
The analysis is based on data from two related research projects in the same neighbourhood, conducted in 2017/18 and 2023/24 with a qualitative research design, including individual and group interviews (with focus on youth), expert interviews (with street-level-bureaucrats) and participant observation (at relevant local sites). Some key findings concerning the everyday challenges of mostly male youngsters from ca. six years ago revealed that they had similar routines back then: they spent a lot of time in the local streets and youth clubs (when not banned from them); they had a strong sense of local belonging, despite conflicts with neighbours or the police; they experienced uncertainties connected to poverty, racism and lack of perspective but also had plans for a better future. How are these adolescents doing today? Through follow-up interviews and vignettes the partially very different paths - ranging from college to imprisonment - will be contrasted and analyzed by asking: which circumstances increased the youth’s marginalization and criminalization, and which possibly empowered them to develop towards a more inclusive, stable future? The additional findings emphasize that such longitudinal data that is rarely collected in sociology is highly relevant for a deeper understanding of social processes and mechanisms that influence the (re-)production of urban inequalities for vulnerable youth.