A final note

Social ecology locates individuals within networks of association, in localities and communities that offer them both resources and challenges. Young Muslims in Australia accrue ‘cultural capital’ from a range of sources, from the most intimate in family and friends, to the distant and wider society. Their cultural capital, that is, the set of resources they internalize that enable them to operate socially, are heavily inflected by an interaction of traditional and modern experiences, values and beliefs and these all contribute to their sense of self. Many Muslim institutions, especially schools, invest heavily in building a cohesive sense of self, where religion, nationality and personal identity line up in ways that are compatible. Yet, Muslim cultural capital, however integrationist it seeks to be while retaining its own sense of integrity, still has to suffer wider societal dynamics that do not always treat it as a legitimate dimension of modern Australia.

As the legitimacy of Muslim contributions may be consistently undermined, so the dynamics for social capital formation are affected, often in counter‐productive ways. If cultural capital faces invalidation in the wider society, the communities that carry it may both seek to have it more effectively accepted through adaptation, while also turning inward to reinforcing it through a concentration on the creation of bonding social capital. As these multiple processes develop, bridging social capital becomes the most vulnerable dimension of the many relationships extending out between communities. While young Australian Muslims overwhelmingly want to be Australian in their national identity, they do not want to abandon thereby the Muslim dimensions, if only symbolic and cultural, of their heritage.

For social programs of ‘inclusion’ to be effective, they need to be multi‐directional, and recognise the processes through which identity is formed and opportunity is sought. The voices to which young Australian Muslims listen, and the pathways they use to give voice to their own aspirations, provide firm evidence that the wider society’s capacity to bridge cultures and to facilitate integration and participation by young Muslims, will determine the success of its goals of social cohesion.

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