Learning Insularity: Social Capital, Social Learning and Staying at Home Among European Youth

Katarzyna Growiec , David Cairns

Abstract

This chapter explores not how young people acquire mobility behaviour but rather how they learn not to be mobile. Using the results of original research conducted in Northern Ireland and Portugal, we focus upon two specific mobility themes: housing transitions and migration intentions. We found that almost three quarters of young people in both samples were living in the parental home, with a significant correlation between living at home and not wanting to migrate in the future.  While economic factors can be important in mobility decision-making, emotional and social ties are more significant in encouraging and inhibiting youth mobility. We conclude that an informal social learning process has taken place “at home”, leading many young people to be geographically insular in their transitions to adulthood.