Building social capital and education: The experiences of Pakistani Muslims in the UK

Abstract

By critically engaging with relevant debates on social capital, socio-economic mobility and educational aspirations amongst minority ethnic groups, the focus of this paper is to examine the processes and mechanisms in the accumulation of social capital, to demonstrate how, in particular, two sets of interpersonal relationships (between siblings and between co-ethnic peers) facilitate educational aspirations amongst an ethnic group that has traditionally been perceived to be underachieving. It highlights the complex interplay within the home and between the home and the community, and the potential implications that these have for shaping the educational aspirations of young Pakistani Muslim men and women. This paper draws on empirical research conducted with the Pakistani Muslim ‘community’ in inner-city Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK; a northern-English city that has experienced large scale public disturbances in 1995 and 2001.