The Conditionality of Neighbourhood Effects upon Social Neighbourhood Embeddedness: A Critical Examination of the Resources and Socialisation Mechanisms

An immense body of literature has been published on the effects of the residential neighbourhood on individual socio-economic outcomes. Numerous studies have designated these neighbourhood effects to the socialisation and resources mechanisms. This study argues that social contacts and interactions in the neighbourhood are the minimal condition for these mechanisms to operate. Following this argument, this study examines whether these particular mechanisms will operate more strongly, and thus whether the magnitude of neighbourhood effects will be higher, for individuals who are socially more embedded in their neighbourhood. These conditional neighbourhood effects upon social embeddedness in the neighbourhood are examined for 3272 individuals within 246 neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. Surprisingly, it is found that the association between neighbourhood's socio-economic conditions and resident's income is not different for individuals with a different degree of neighbourhood-specific social contacts and interactions. Consequently, this study challenges the core of the neighbourhood effects argument on socio-economic outcomes by questioning the often applied socialisation and resources mechanisms.