The workplace as a crucible of working class masculinity

Discussions in the previous section of this chapter demonstrated the difficulties experienced when attempting to explain work’s purpose within society, and even when defining what constitutes work. This is especially problematic as it revealed that work’s meaning and purpose has continually shifted due to the diverse economic, social, political, moral and spiritual factors prevailing within each society over time.

However, throughout the discussion it has been evident that since the creation of a greater division of labour as a consequence of the industrial age, work has been an influential site for defining identities by creating an individual’s

occupational identity, and by establishing a group identity through the process of social closure (Parkin, 2001; Noon and Blyton, 2007) and social identity theory (SIT) (Tajfel and Turner, 1979). As will be discussed below, this is particularly pertinent for young men entering an adult community of practice at an important stage of their life course. As this thesis concerns itself with the role played by apprenticeship in facilitating the entry of working class boys into the variety of communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991) which mark adulthood, one feature of identity formation has yet to be discussed; the function of the workplace in defining a masculine identity for the apprentice. For most apprentices up until recent times, as a consequence of the gendered division of labour, work was a male dominated environment with few female colleagues. This homosocial work environment provided apprentices with the opportunity to engage in inter-generational relationships as legitimate peripheral

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participants in a community of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991), with adult males that were neither family members nor teachers, quite possibly for the first time (Goodwin, 2007). The effect that these relationships had on the

apprentices’ formation of a masculine adult identity will now be explored. In modern multi-cultural Britain, the concept of a single homogenous working class masculinity and culture is outmoded, and as we have seen, a

generalisation in terms of class is also now held to be contentious. In our diverse society, many cultures co-exist along with equally diverse ideals of masculinity. But in Western societies, the concept of masculinity has often been mythologised, and has presented a diversity of incarnations over time. These have placed varying emphasis on a range of attributes such as strength,

intelligence, moral courage, athleticism and stoicism as suited the demands and cultural mores of each historical period (Roper and Tosh, 1991).

However, as was discussed previously in this chapter, the traditionally accepted model of working class masculinity which has been idealised by both the media and in political discourse in Britain as the ‘Respectable Working Man’

(Thompson, 1988) and the associated role of the male breadwinner, has only existed since industrialisation during the 18th _{and 19th centuries. As previously}

noted, this model arose as a consequence of an emerging awareness of class divisions and class consciousness through the division of labour, and society’s emerging notions of respectability (ibid., 1988).

The way that working class masculinity is made evident, is by social groups processing the ‘...raw material of their social and material existence’ (Clarke, Hall, Jefferson and Roberts, 1982: 10) through their culture. It is the unique ‘way of life’ of a group or class that embodies its values, social institutions, moral

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standards, beliefs and customs. It is through interactions within the group that a person becomes a social individual (ibid., 1982). Culture shapes the social relations within a group and determines how those relations are ‘...experienced, understood and interpreted’ (ibid., 1982:11). It is within this discrete working class culture that the figure of the ‘Respectable Working Man’ (Thompson, 1988) is situated and formed, as well as transferred from generation to generation through the exercise of social capital, and its subsequent cultural and social reproduction (Bourdieu, 1977a) discussed in Chapter Three.

Historically, boys entered an apprenticeship after leaving school in their early to mid-teenage years (Hanawalt, 1993), and this timing is key to apprenticeship’s influence on identity formation. As we have seen, Leszczynski and Strough (2008) argue that the gender intensification experienced during this crucial formative period may have a variety of causes such as the effects of puberty, socialisation by parents and peers, as well as cognitive maturation. However, the importance of peers, particularly in homosocial environments such as those afforded by those apprenticeships referred to in this thesis, is emphasised in a social-cognitive understanding of gender identity, as they may ‘...cue gender- typed aspects of identity in specific situations’ (ibid., 2008: 721). It is reasonable to conclude that this influence is not restricted to peer groups, but extends to other important others (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) such respected work colleagues, and significant others (Haller and Woelful, 1972) used as role models.

In the occupational communities of practice provided by work, a moral order exists in which individual freedoms and identity are produced from the shared values of that group (Strangleman and Warren, 2008). These values are in turn, learned by the apprentices through legitimate participation within that

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community of practice (Wenger, 1998) and are discernible in the form of social and role identities. Echabe (2010) suggests that social identities emerge as a consequence of individuals self-identifying with a particular group, in this case an occupational group. Through the process of self-stereotyping, individuals assume stereotypical characteristics associated to that group. In contrast, the closely related role identities are derived from the internalisation of socially shared forms of behaviour appropriate to the individual’s status within the group (Echabe, 2010).

Accordingly, suitable behaviours for the particular social context are prescribed by the mental image that we hold of our social identity, as suggested by SIT (Tajfel and Turner, 1979; 1986). This theory posits that humans categorise objects so that we can better understand them. Objects also include people, who are categorised into social groupings to which they belong, as ‘in-groups’ and ‘out-groups’. Therefore, group membership informs a significant part of our self-concept, and that rather than having a singular identity, we have several selves which correspond to the social groups to which we belong, including social, personal and implicit identities (Echabe, 2010). Therefore, SIT maintains that as humans belong to more than one social grouping (considered here in this thesis as communities, or constellations of practice), the ‘…self is

conceptualised as a collection of social identities’ (Sherriff, 2007: 351). For young males serving an apprenticeship during a life phase in which they were particularly receptive to these social influences, these also consist of

constructing the masculine identities required to meet the markers of adulthood (Blatterer, 2007a; 2007b) necessary for achieving the status of standard

adulthood (Parsons, 1971) as described in Chapter Three.

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(Lave and Wenger, 1991) and social identity (Tajfel and Turner, 1986), serving a post-war apprenticeship can be interpreted as ‘…an apprenticeship in

masculinity’ (Vickerstaff, 2007: 339), in which male social and role identities were learned. These identities were comprised of the assimilation of values, habits and behaviours consistent with the culture of the workplace of the time, and those of the standard paradigm of adulthood (Parsons, 1971). As a major site of inter-generational social interaction and discourse, the workplace, alongside the family, enculturated the youth into a range of working class masculine identities through the application of cultural and social capital as described by Bourdieu (1977a). Therefore, apprenticeship during the years 1959 to 1989, may be regarded as continuing to serve its traditional role as a cultural institution, integrating young people into adulthood as discussed in Chapter Two.

4.4 Summary

This chapter has considered the problem of defining work and has described some of its many functions. It has indicated that work has various purposes, from being a means of existence, to meeting a society’s moral and religious obligations. It has also revealed that these meanings are dynamic and change over time in accordance with changes in each society.

This chapter has also established through a discussion of classical sociological perspectives, that different interpretations of work, the effects of industrialisation and the division of labour are possible. The different ways that the ‘gang of three’ (Grint, 2005) described the effects of the division of labour on society, has emphasised its importance on the creation of identity and modern society. Although modern conceptions of a work identity no longer carry the certainties

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that they once did since the demise of the ‘jobs for life’ culture, ideas of

respectability drawn from a previous age, with their emphasis on self-reliance and self-sufficiency, continue to help define modern identities. This fact is reflected in the rhetoric of contemporary politicians’ professed concerns and support for ‘hard working families’ (Cameron, 2014). This patronising glittering generality, evokes the Victorian concept of the ‘dignity of labour’ and its

associated respectability discussed earlier in this chapter. Therefore, it can be concluded that ingrained ideals and beliefs about the value of work, passed from generation to generation as social capital (Bourdieu, 1977b), continue to influence contemporary thought and behaviour.

This chapter has illustrated how the social changes during the Industrial Revolution shaped modern ideas of identity, and through a division of labour along gender lines, created the image of the male breadwinner so prevalent until recent times. It has also revealed how identity has historically been bound up with an individual’s work, and that through using the lenses of symbolic interaction and social identity theories, membership of a group can be seen to have an important function in the formation of a self-identity. Consequently, work as a social activity, provides a social arena in which adolescents can learn adult behaviours which encompass the range of experiences necessary to participate in the multiple communities of practice which define adulthood. The next chapter examines the methodology used in this thesis.

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