The interview evidence suggests that the link between social engagement and lifelong learning is a complex one. The idea that social capital and human capital always pull together, which can be found in both Putnam’s and Coleman’s work, is simply not tenable in the light of the qualitative evidence presented in the previous chapter. People sometimes treat networks as an alternative to participation in learning, and sometimes they undertake informal learning by mobilising their social capital resources. In Northern Ireland, with its strong networks of close ties, it seems that participation in formal adult learning can sometimes be hindered by the very same social networks that foster informal learning. Close ties can function to support schools in socialising the young, but they can also provide alternatives to education and training for adults, and they can foster a culture of cynicism and disengagement from formal learning among adults.

At the individual level, and at the level of the community, the relationship between social networks and adult learning is a complex one in which people actively develop learning identities and strategies that enable them to tackle the circumstances in which they find themselves. However, what the qualitative findings did not make clear was whether people who are active in their community are more or less likely to be positive about adult learning. This chapter presents quantitative data, taken from a major social attitudes survey conducted in 2000 and 2001. The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILTS) was launched in 1998, and is the successor to the Northern Ireland counterpart of the British Social Attitudes Survey. The data presented here come largely from a module on lifelong learning, although they have been analysed in conjunction with responses to questions about cultural and community life.

In general, the questions were addressed to people’s attitudes rather than their behaviour, but they are helpful to the purpose of this study because the attitudes can be taken as reflecting more broadly the values shared by respondents, as well as providing valuable insights in their own right. The core idea of social capital is the suggestion that people’s connections have value because they allow people to cooperate for mutual benefit, and gain access to resources that they can then use.