Masculine identities and low‐paid work: young men in urban labour markets

Linda McDowell

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2003, vol. 27, issue 4, 828-848

Abstract: 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. Cet article rapproche les débats sur l'évolution du marché du travail, les identités fondées sur l'emploi, les préoccupations croissantes à l'égard de la classe ouvrière, la faiblesse des résultats des garçons et l'identification d'une crise contemporaine de la masculinité. Il s'inspire d'une étude longitudinale sur de jeunes hommes habitant Sheffield et Cambridge — villes aux marchés du travail très distincts — relative aux expériences professionnelles initiales des garçons blancs issus de la classe ouvrière, au sortir de l'école. Deux cas particuliers sont approfondis concernant les premiers itinéraires professionnels afin d'évaluer les attitudes et actions des jeunes en fin de scolarité, ainsi que leurs réactions aux changements structurels du marché du travail, lesquels ont transformé leurs opportunités comparées, à la fois, à celles de leur père et de leurs homologues féminines. Une appréciation est donnée sur l'intérêt d'un débat théorique concernant les vies professionnelles et la mutation des divisions par genre.

Date: 2003
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