Local Social Service Organizations and their Relationship to Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
Sebastian Kurtenbach (Münster University of Applied Sciences; Ruhr University Bochum), Armin Küchler (Bielefeld University; Münster University of Applied Sciences), & Andreas Zick (Bielefeld University)
Many studies have repeatedly shown that poor neighborhoods can have a disadvantageous effect on various life-domains. For example, growing up in neighborhoods with low socioeconomic status can affect childrens’ educational opportunities or limit their employment opportunities later in life. While urban research has repeatedly demonstrated the existence of such neighborhood effects, little effort has been made to investigate how such disadvantages can be prevented. Local social service organizations (LSSOs), such as counseling centers, neighborhood meetings, or youth clubs, are a typical tool. In the German welfare state system, these are usually publicly funded. Moreover, such LSSOs are mainly concentrated in poor neighborhoods.
In our empirical study on “Radicalizing Spaces,” we examine whether disadvantaged neighborhood effects – operationalized in our case as susceptibility to radicalization – can be mitigated or even prevented by LSSOs. We focus our analysis on susceptibility to Islamist ideologies. The study was conducted in three German cities: Dortmund, Bonn, and Berlin. A separate, standardized survey of the general population was conducted in each city. More than 2,000 people participated per city. The survey was designed so that conclusions could be drawn about almost every district in each city. The topics of the survey focused on susceptibility to radicalization, participation in LSO services, and individual attitudes and behaviors. We then linked the survey responses to two other sources of data: First, with information from the municipality on the social structure, such as poverty rates, in the city districts, and second, with research on all LSSOs in the cities. We also categorized the LSSOs by type. This allowed us to calculate, for each city, whether a possible neighborhood effect on susceptibility to radicalization can be averted by LSSOs.
The results are complex and do not show a clear effect of neighborhood LSSOs on susceptibility to radicalization. Rather, there are differences in the associations between LSSOs and radicalization vulnerability across cities. This means that while LSSOs may well prevent neighborhood effects, it is still unclear what needs to happen and how they should work in order for this to be the case. This is a task for further research.
Sebastian Kurtenbach is Professor of Social Policy at Münster University of Applied Sciences and Lecturer at Ruhr University Bochum. He researches and teaches on neighborhood effects, migration, and conflict, for which he also directs several research projects.
Armin Küchler is a research associate at Bielefeld University and Münster University of Applied Sciences, as well as a PhD candidate at the Bielefeld Graduate School of History and Sociology. His research focuses on radicalization, extremism and migration.
Andreas Zick is Professor of Socialization and Conflict Research at the University of Bielefeld, Germany, where he is Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence. His research examines causes and solutions in the context of conflict and violence.