Fortifying futures: how older boomerangers in English multigenerational households boost resilience through social capital accumulation and distribution

Abstract

Multigenerational households (MGHs) are the UK’s fastest growing household type. This paper critically explores the relative influence of ‘Generation X’ in shaping social capital accumulation and distribution strategies within English MGHs. We contend that this cohort, described here as ‘amalgamation generation’, (older ‘boomerangers’) recognize how the quintessential inter/intra generational forms of social capital present in MGHs may be consolidated to boost resilience at a time of economic uncertainty and social instability. We challenge therefore the largely negative discourse surrounding boomerangers which exist in existing scholarship. Our analysis highlights the dialectical relationship between the concepts of resilience and social capital when applied to multigenerational living. In doing so, we highlight the relevance of network centrality, shared family values, an awareness of the natural life cycle and the importance of family ‘social capital bank’ in promoting the overall cohesion of the MGH. The extent to which English MGHs may be construed as a liquid, temporal and fluid asset over space, place and time is explored.

Keywords:

• Multigenerational
• housing
• resilience
• social capital
• boomerangers
• family

Acknowledgements

Our sincerest thanks go to the multigenerational families who participated in the research. We would also like to thank Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Chester and University Centre Shrewsbury for providing financial assistance for the study. Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Rionach Casey, formerly Sheffield Hallam University, who wrote the original research proposal which informed this analysis. Thanks also to Professors Barry Goodchild and Paul Hickman for their earlier comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Angela Maye-Banbury is Principal Lecturer in Housing and Research Methods in the Department of the Natural and Built Environment at Sheffield Hallam University. Angela specialises in the use of oral history to give voices to people whose housing experiences have been marginalised in mainstream scholarship. Her recent research papers include an exploration of discourse and memory (Irish Studies Review, April 2019) and fuel, materialism and modernity (Housing, Theory and Society, April 2019) Her research has also featured on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Sheffield.

Martin McNally is Chair of Moss Care St. Vincent's Housing. Previously, Martin worked as a Senior Lecture and programme leader in housing and regeneration in the Department of Geography and International Development at the University of Chester. Prior to this worked as a practitioner in neighbourhood renewal and community based regeneration.