Fragility of leisure ties between ethnic minority and majority youth – an empirical case from Finland

Abstract

This paper explores social integration of ethnic minority youth in the context of micro-level leisure interaction in Finland. The aim of the study is to disentangle the types of ties that are formed between ethnic minority and majority youth. Moreover, the article will examine how these ties build bridges across group boundaries in the form of providing new leisure resources for ethnic minority youth. The qualitative data of the study consists of multi-sited ethnography conducted in the context of youth work and distinct interview data of ethnic minority youth (n = 38). Strong interethnic ties in the form of close friendships are rare in the data. Instead, many weak ties in the form of distant acquaintances are maintained. However, because of manifold micro-level elements, these weak ties are often too fragile to function as bridges accumulating the leisure resources of ethnic minority youth. Strong interethnic ties seem to have more bridging qualities. Thus, the conceptual distinction of weak/bridging and strong/bonding ties originally formulated in the framework of the labour market may not be applicable in the fields of youth leisure.