Using data from a little known project, 'Adjustment of Young Workers to Work Situations and Adult Roles', carried out in Leicester between 1962 and 1964, this
Forty years ago, between 1962Forty years ago, between -1964, fieldwork was carried out on the research project Adjustment of Young Workers to Work Situations and Adult Roles. Using archived materials relating to the little known Norbert Elias project, this paper has two aims. First, to introduce this largely unknown aspect of Elias's work to a wider audience. Second, to explore in detail Elias's contributions to the project by piecing together his ideas and hypotheses from archived materials. During the early stages of the research, Elias suggested that the transition from school to work constituted a 'shock' experience and that young people would experience initial difficulties in adjusting to their new role. He suggested that difficulties would emerge in their relationships with older workers, with family and with their new income. For the first time this paper presents Elias's 'shock' hypothesis, and his thoughts on school to work transitions. The paper concludes by reflecting on the value of the shock hypothesis and the possible impact that the Adjustment of Young Workers to Work Situations and Adult Roles project may have on Elias standing in British sociology.2
In 2000 data from a little known sociological study was 're-discovered', stored in an attic office. The archived data comprised original interview schedules that documented the early work experiences of Leicester's youth in the 1960s. Forty years on the original respondents have been traced and re-interviewed as they make the transition from work to retirement. This paper examines the complex methodological issues associated with reanalysing, tracing and reinterviewing respondents after such a considerable time lapse.We examine our methodological approach using the concept of qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) as a framework for understanding this process. We also reflect on the value of such longitudinal qualitative research. We conclude by drawing out some of the issues surrounding QLR and the implication of our experiences and insights for those who are now building such longitudinal datasets and the promise such data hold.
During the early 1960s Norbert Elias led a research project on the adjustment of young workers to work situations and adult roles. The data from this project, which consisted of 851 interviews with young people, was recently rediscovered and the participants, now approaching retirement, were re-interviewed as part of a restudy. In this paper we argue, that, in the context of the dramatic changes to the transition to retirement that have taken place in the United Kingdom, it is possible to use Elias's unpublished work on the transition to work as a theoretical framework for understanding of the transition from work and to retirement. In particular we focus on the themes of fantasy and reality in the perception of retirement; changing interdependencies in the transition to retirement and the extent and impact of retirement preparation on the perception of the change in status from full-time worker to retiree. We conclude by suggesting that the implied advantages of being 'baby boomer' generation are far from the reality, with the experiences of this group being similar to those who have gone before and face an adjustment to retirement marked by uncertainty and anxiety.
Alongside the ever growing theoretical literature on men and masculinity, it remains important to offer accounts of men that are located within men's own experience. This paper presents evidence on men's lives and their attitudes to work in the Republic of Ireland. Recently Ireland has experienced one of the most dramatic economic transformations in Western Europe. However, regardless of the longevity of such economic change, a sizeable part of the Irish population has not bene ted from this economic success. Although unemployment has fallen, men make up over seventy per cent of those still unemployed. Using data collected from 170 Irish men, during 1998 and 1999, this paper contributes to gender debates by documenting and exploring how men experience working life in Ireland.
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