Between 2001 and 2011 the number of 16-24 year olds nationally has grown by 13% yet the number in employment has declined considerably (Aldridge et al, 2011). Further, many young people often spend years in lower rung jobs whilst continuing in education with little chance of advancement or benefits simply to have a job and tide them over (Furlong & Cartmel, 2007), characterising the failure of current
employment programmes to assist young people, leading increasing numbers to seek education as a constructive stop gap, thus returning a surplus of well educated workers for relatively few high skill jobs. When unfulfilled potential is coupled with low growth and a fall in the number of skilled jobs it can only lead to further disadvantage down the social strata (Schmelzer, 2011). The concept of what can be
considered decent work in Scotland was assessed by Stuart et al (2016) when they conducted focus groups with low paid workers in urban areas across the country. They found that overwhelmingly these workers had relatively simple expectations for quality of work including sufficient pay, job security, paid holidays, and sick leave. Insisting on minimum standards for quality of life of this kind suggests young people’s aspirations are of greater similarity to their forebears than assumed by some (Shu et al, 2008) and reinforced by further empirical research around the world (McDonald et al, 2011; Walsh et al, 2019).
Declining economic conditions naturally lead to a significant number of young people turning to apathy or even crime. These modes of activity then become intrinsic to individual identities thereby enhancing so called estate reputations (Damer, 1974; Fraser & Piacentini, 2014). Despite this it is clear that the
46 of prevailing socio-economic factors rather than any inherent traits of youthfulness, and is as much a global problem as a national one (Gidley, 2004). Mounting negative factors like unemployment and trouble at school often lead to higher rates of mental illness and criminal activity among younger people (Quilgars et al, 2008; Álvaro & Garrido, 2003; Benyon, 2012), problems that are particularly prevalent in the poorest areas of Glasgow (Feng et al, 2018), leaving a legacy of social harm aggravated by economic austerity. This is a problem Glasgow can ill afford, where knife crime and anti-social behaviour are on the increase (Deuchar, 2009; Holligan et al, 2016). Detrimental factors related to social and economic harm have increased during the period after the 2008 financial crisis and as a result it is important to better understand how this in particular has affected young people.
Jobs which were once the pursuit of local school leavers are now more likely to be taken up by university graduates from the four local universities and beyond, causing detriment to working class communities in particular (Scurry & Blenkinsopp, 2011). The unskilled part-time work which once sustained young people in and outside of education has become an ever more attractive prospect for those who once would have filled skilled positions elsewhere. In Furlong et al’s (2003) research a longitudinal study of a cohort of young people surveyed and interviewed at ages 15, 16, 18, 21, and 23 in the Greater Glasgow conurbation
focusing on how they experience school to work transitions, they found that for the most part young people experienced chaotic transitions defined by lengthy periods of unemployment with working class participants faring particularly badly.
As recently as November 2013 the West of Scotland has seen a significant workforce decrease in its petrochemical industry and further deindustrialisation of the Clyde shipyards which for so long maintained the promise of skilled work for young people growing up in the area, especially young men (Cunningham- Sabot & Fol, 2010). Many of the participants in this study have parents/guardians who worked for these industries or in such employment as security, car selling, cleaning, retail, and the public sector. Meaningful work in such contexts is few and far between, and to a great extent is not even perceived as realistic, a fact exacerbated by a general perception among law makers and some academic commentators that this is unfortunately to be expected and even capitalised upon (Van Reenen & Petrongolo, 2010; Vogel, 2015).
Most sociological interpretations of stalled transitions imagine youth as being a key staging point that facilitates a successful entry into the world of adult work and responsibility (Kelly, 2000), yet when that success is no longer probable that understanding breaks down. Where once young people were satisfied to sacrifice an element of meaning and purpose to their work for better conditions, thereby moving out of their assumed class position, there is now a sense of disenfranchisement as this promise cannot be delivered (Furlong, 1992). Outdated normative portrayals of school to work transitions instead now frame much of the pervasive policy and academic discussion of young people as representing a youth-at-risk,
47 where risk is associated with the largely individualised capacities of young people to effect a secure
transition into the labour market (Furlong & Kelly, 2005). When secure transitions equally become no longer probable, the requirement to make them meaningful only increases.
2.3.5 Conclusion
The Glasgow of McArthur and Kingsley Long’s (1935) ‘No Mean City’ may no longer exist in the sense some believe it to, but it is still a city steeped in a self-image of grit, hardness, and humour. As such it is a site of great sociological interest for studies concerning both class and the changing nature of our socioeconomic situation. Yet Glasgow like so many other cities is a place where individuals and communities are simply seeking to get on, and to find meaning in their pursuit of a purposeful existence. As has been detailed in
Section 2.3 Glasgow is a city with a long and detailed industrial history, which in the wake of the post-
industrial era has suffered disproportionately from the effects of austerity (Damer, 1989; Law & Mooney, 2012; Macdonald et al 2014). The majority of young people who are marginalised or otherwise
disadvantaged whilst seeking access to the labour market aspire to the same goals of prosperity and security as anyone else (MacDonald, 1997; McDowell, 2000). The key difference occurs due to the closure of avenues that were once open to generations to develop skills and feel themselves to be a core part of a bustling economy, this deficit has had a profound effect on the austerity generation, an effect that we are yet to understand the true result of (Walther, 2006).
Glasgow has become a regular site of empirical research pursuing new understandings of the ways in which working class communities experience inequality and the harsh economic circumstances of austerity (Gray & Mooney, 2011; Fraser, 2013; MacDonald et al, 2014). For the most part research of this kind has led to conclusions which shape the reality for young people as being defined by struggle yet one in which most are simply in the pursuit of decent work (Stuart et al, 2016). Much like the general population the research detailed in this review depicts young people in an area such as Glasgow as having reasonable and relatively modest expectations for their own working lives (Shu et al, 2008; McDonald et al, 2011; Walsh et al, 2019).
A considerable narrowing of the horizons for young people has been evidenced in the review, with varying reports regarding the effect this has on their aspirations Furlong et al, 1996). Instead of investing heavily in repairing the damage of the post-industrial shift it appears regressive narratives such as that of ‘Broken Britain’ and the creation of poverty as entertainment have become common (Kingston & Webster, 2015; MacDonald and Shildrick, 2007). Conditions of this kind also have material outcomes with foodbank use on the rise and mental health issues emerging on an unprecedented level (MacLeod et al, 2018; Hayton, 2012). Conditions such as the aforementioned contribute to a legacy of economic neglect which has a profoundly political dynamic that is understood to be both deliberate and callous by many (Giroux, 2017). Allowing
48 such neglect of a young, fully able workforce will almost certainly have ramifications for generations to come. Investigating how these narratives play out in relation to perceptions of work among those leaving school at 16/17 will provide an insight into how we can amend these processes and revisit how transitions are structured to improve outcomes for young people from working class backgrounds.