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Masculine identities and low‐paid work: young men in urban labour markets
Author(s) -
McDowell Linda
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of urban and regional research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1468-2427
pISSN - 0309-1317
DOI - 10.1111/j.0309-1317.2003.00486.x
Subject(s) - masculinity , working class , gender studies , sociology , work (physics) , working hours , white (mutation) , order (exchange) , labour economics , demographic economics , political science , economics , politics , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , finance , law , gene , engineering
This article brings together debates about labour market change, work‐based identities, growing concerns about the problem of working‐class, low‐achieving boys and the identification of a contemporary crisis of masculinity. It draws on a longitudinal study of young men in Sheffield and Cambridge — contrasting local labour markets in England — examining the initial workplace experiences of white working‐class male school‐leavers. Two individual cases are explored in depth, looking at initial working pathways in order to assess the attitudes and actions of young school leavers and their responses to the structural changes in the labour market that have transformed their opportunities compared with both their fathers' generation and their female peers. The implications for theoretical debates about working lives and the trasformation of gender divisions are assessed.