Thesis

'We were all scattered to the four winds’ : work, identity, and deindustrialisation in post-war Scotland

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2024
Thesis identifier
  • T16808
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201752284
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • This thesis examines the post-redundancy employment experiences of formerScottish heavy industry workers and the survivability of their occupational identitiesand work cultures. This thesis draws on 51 oral history interviews conducted between2016 and 2019 with former heavy industry workers in the West of Scotland – 21 fromshipbuilding and 30 from steelmaking. The occupational culture of heavy industriessuch as mining, steelmaking, and shipbuilding have been well documented by labourhistorians. These industries are renowned for their extensive trade unionism, maledominated workforce, shop-floor camaraderie, and the prevalence of a hegemonicmode of ‘hard man’ masculinity. Heavy industry sharply declined in the face of therapid deindustrialisation which typified the 1980s and early 1990s, forcing workersinto early retirement, unemployment, or the pursuit of alternative employment.Given their previous immersion in a distinctive occupational culture, a study of heavyindustry workers’ post-redundancy employment experiences offers a window intothe impact of deindustrialisation on work and identity. In light of this, this thesis willexplore how workers defined, understood, and acclimatised themselves to newworking environments following their transition from heavy industry into other formsof employment, and how these transitions augmented their experience of work. Inorder to better understand the long-term impact of deindustrialisation, this thesisexamines the ways in which workers’ post-redundancy employment contrasted withheavy industry, focusing on the following thematic areas: health and safety; tradeunionism and collectivism; masculinity and emasculation; and occupationalcommunity and workplace culture.
Advisor / supervisor
  • McIvor, Arthur
  • Smith, Matt
Resource Type
Note
  • Previously held under moratorium from 24 January 2025 until 24 January 2026.
DOI
Date Created
  • 2023

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