There is interest within the social exclusion debate about the extent to which people in deprived social housing estates are socially isolated and their material disadvantages reinforced by exclusion from job opportunities and inward-looking and negative social norms. One approach to this problem has been the introduction of a social mix through the development of new housing for owner-occupation. Through interviews with and diaries kept by residents in three Scottish estates this article charts residents' networks and assesses the potential for owner-occupation to 'reconnect' existing residents with society beyond the local neighbourhood. The article concludes that owners and renters in regeneration areas largely inhabit different social worlds and that the introduction of owner-occupation makes little difference to renters' networks. Policy implications include the need to meet the housing aspirations of homeowners in these areas, and the effects of promoting large-scale commercial developments based on heavy car use in towns and cities.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Sociology
Research Field:	Sociology not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Indigenous
Objective Group:	Pacific Peoples community services
Objective Field:	Pacific Peoples community services not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Atkinson, R (Associate Professor Rowland Atkinson)
ID Code:	34512
Year Published:	2000
Web of Science® Times Cited:	134
Deposited By:	Sociology and Social Work
Deposited On:	2005-08-01
Last Modified:	2005-08-10
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