Infancias diversas: redes sociales de los niños y las niñas en Ámsterdam

Diverse childhoods: children's social networks in contemporary Amsterdam

In this paper we compare the social networks of children growing up in three different neighbourhoods in contemporary Amsterdam, the multicultural capital of the Netherlands. Central question is how children growing up in specific neighbourhoods develop friendships and build on their social network and to what extent they are able to meet children with a different social background. We focus on conditions related to school and neighbourhood, taking into account that (crossed) social networks are not naturally given, but are constructed under certain spatial and social conditions. Three neighbourhoods are selected that differ in social and physical conditions for growing up: Tuindorp Nieuwendam, Indische Buurt i Museumkwartier. We distinguished two social dimensions: class and ethnic composition. It becomes clear that childhood varies across space and that homogeneous friendships are more at stake in children’s lives than social relationships that cross age, class and ethnicity.