The exclusion of young people from their urban neighbourhoods is on the increase globally, and the recent claims about young people’s disengagement and declining behaviour have been consistently linked to wider claims about the depletion of social capital within communities (MacDonald, 1997; Kelly, 2000; Deuchar, 2009). The criminalisation of city spaces and zero tolerance policies which are now common across the world provide ample evidence of the common view that young people are to be regarded either as vulnerable or threatening (Robinson, 2000; Barker, 2005; Sharland, 2006). In many parts of the world, it has become something of a national sport to demonise young men in particular, and especially those from low-income backgrounds (Barker, 2005). The introduction of the more ‘muscular’ territorial authority of the police in many parts of Europe and the USA has resulted in increasing numbers of anti-social behaviour orders, wider exclusionary practices and an extraordinary level of intervention and surveillance in urban communities (Robinson, 2000; McDowell, 2001; Barker, 2005). It has also been claimed that gang membership in urban communities is on the increase globally and that young gang members are likely to progress to more serious violence and organised crime (Clare, 2000; Thompson, 2004). And yet, it could be argued that young people gain a sense of social identity from hanging out on the streets in groups, which may be lacking in their experiences of family and community (Winton, 2005). This paper explores young people’s interpretations of their local urban neighbourhoods. It examines the impact of territoriality and surveillance on their lives and reflects upon the relationship between gang culture and the building of social capital. It also considers the potential for new social and educational initiatives to re-engage young people who are disaffected, vulnerable and prone to social exclusion.

Data was collected in communities in Glasgow with high indicators of deprivation. Working with a sample of 50 young people, we drew upon ethnomethodology, exploring how young people socialise, share their reality and make sense of the world (Garfinkel, 1967; Holloway, 1997) by drawing upon conversation analysis (Holloway, 1997). Initial open-ended interviews with community leaders and operational police officers in each community were combined with informal interaction with young people, in order to establish trust. Subsequent visits to each venue enabled us to implement semi-structured interviews with the young people. The interviews sought to explore what life is like for young people living in deprived urban communities in Glasgow, the nature of their social networks and their feelings about issues of trust, identity and support. It sought to examine what young people might gain from gang membership and the relationship with the building of social capital.

For many young people, life in Glasgow’s deprived housing schemes represents an intense feeling of living on the margins of society. They feel stigmatised by members of the establishment and demonised by the wider public. For young men, gangs provide a means of accruing alternative forms of compensatory social capital (Bassani, 2007), with opportunities for experiencing social bonding, status, identity and the expression of a narrowly-defined but widely accepted versions of masculinity. But the constant threat of violence and the negative impact on social mobility means that gangs do more to deplete social capital than they do to build it. New strategies being put in place by the Scottish Government are enabling a dual focus on problem-oriented policing and a multi-agency approach towards improving youth wellbeing. These strategies are enabling young people to benefit from vocational and diversionary initiatives and are leading to new opportunities for building social capital.