Beggars can't be choosers : an ethnography of post-school transitions in a high unemployment area

Craine, SF

Abstract

My thesis seeks to explore and document the processes involved in the career transitions
of a specific sample of unqualified minimum age school leavers drawn from a high
unemployment inner city area. The main body of data was collected ethnographically
between 1985 and 1990, although the original 'data-base', entrée into the field, and 'insider
status' were derived from my former employment in a Youth and Community Project in
the study area.
The research has identified three broad patterns of labour market transition: the first
involved a minority of participants and was a traditional post-school transition to primary
employment; the second involved a slightly larger group in protracted transitions via
combinations of experiences which included unemployment, underemployment and
government schemes; the third and most common pattern involved a cyclical post-school
transition described by some study participants as the 'Black Magic Roundabout'. Cyclical
transitions entailed early careers in which participants became trapped on a (not so) merrygo-
round of unemployment, government schemes and special programmes, youth jobs,
work in the informal economy, more unemployment, schemes, and so on. Generally, this
transition preceded the slide into cynicism, disillusionment and labour market withdrawal.
Each of the labour market transitions reflected a complementary career pattern in terms of
entry into and progress through adult domestic life. Case studies explore individual
responses which were mediated by the inter-relationships between labour market and
domestic career transitions and trends in government policy, the economy, local labour
market conditions, housing and the family.
By far the largest group among research participants were those who had moved through
cyclical transitions and labour market withdrawal into long-term unemployment. My study
illustrates how this group restricted social networks to others in a similar position, built on
a common sense of identity and reduced commitment to the orthodox labour market. My
study reveals that to those for whom employment was perceived as only a distant and
diminished possibility, alternative status systems were subculturally conceived.
Significantly large numbers of participants proactively explored, constructed and pursued
sub- and anti-employment careers. Affiliation to the sub- and anti-employment
subcultures enabled participants to offset threats to psychological well-being posed by
their objective labour market positions and provided alternative routes to income, status,
identity and meaning.
Of all the post-sixteen progression routes, the slide into the informal economy and
acquisitive criminality is the most under-researched. Detailed exploration of these nonconventional
routes contributes to the contemporary understanding of post-school
transitions and provides knowledge of the 'career points' through which this transition
occurs.

Citation

Craine, S. Beggars can't be choosers : an ethnography of post-school transitions in a high unemployment area. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 18, 2011
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1993