Complex Transitions: Linearity and Labour Market Integration in the West of Scotland

Furlong, Andy; Cartmel, Fred; Sloan, Seaneen; Sweeting, Helen; West, Patrick

doi:10.1057/9780230597778_2

Cited by 40 publications

(64 citation statements)

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“…With new tools and clearer theoretical understanding, we can appreciate that the transitions made in the 1950s and 1960s were more complex than contemporary researchers would have us believe (Goodwin and O'Connor 2005) while modern transitions remain relatively straightforward for perhaps one in two young people Furlong et al 2003).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Revisiting transitional metaphors: reproducing social inequalities under the conditions of late modernity

Furlong

2009

Journal of Education and Work

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This paper focuses on some of the conceptual implications changes in youth transitions over the last 40 years. I argue that changes have often been exaggerated with researchers too enthusiastic to jump on theoretical bandwagons without due regard for empirical evidence. While I suggest that there are important changes that impact on the ways in which social classes are reproduced, involving a perception of increased opportunity and greater scope for individual agency, a degree of class-based convergence and illusions regarding the disappearance of class, I will argue that the new mechanisms lead to the re-establishment of very familiar patterns of socioeconomic inequality which can largely be understood by employing established theoretical ideas. While biographical approaches are regarded as useful, the continued se of social class is defended. u

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the contrary, my position is that while outcomes are largely determined by a set of structural resources and contexts, personal agency is central to the mobilisation of capacities and, hence, the reproduction of inequalities (Furlong et al 2003). In this context I fully accept Evan's ideas regarding the role of bounded agency in transitions.…”

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confidence: 90%

Revisiting transitional metaphors: reproducing social inequalities under the conditions of late modernity

Furlong

2009

Journal of Education and Work

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“…We simply cannot accept, uncritically, the findings of past studies as somehow being fully representative of the reality of youth transitions in the 1950s and 1960s as most of these studies were too pre-occupied with structural issues and systematically ignored the individually complex subjective experiences (Goodwin and O'Connor 2005). A re-examination of past studies, therefore, has potentially a great deal to reveal about young peoples' transitional experiences and, as Furlong et al (2005) Process (2000), at the heart of Elias theorising on young workers was a view that that the transition from school to work was characterised by 'shock' experiences and an argument that most young people experience real difficulties in adjusting to their new role as adults, workers, and independent money earners.…”

Section: Reassessing the 'Orthodox' View Of Youth Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Continuity and change in the experiences of transition from school to work

Goodwin

O’Connor

2007

International Journal of Lifelong Education

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Using previously unanalysed data from Norbert Elias's lost study of young workers in Leicester -the Adjustment of Young Workers to Work Situations and Adult Roles (1962-1964), and data from a subsequent restudy of the same respondents in [2003][2004][2005], this paper focuses on three main themes. First, we critically examine the concept of transition as it is currently used in education and youth research. We argue that the vast majority of what is written about the transition process focuses upon how the process has changed over time. However such approaches, whilst clearly documenting important aspects of social change, ignore and underestimate continuities and similarities in the young peoples' experiences of transition, regardless of their spatial and temporal location. For example, despite significant labour market changes in the UK, young people still have to make the transition from full-time education to whatever follows next, be it employment, unemployment or further and higher education. Finally, the impact of these early transition experiences on subsequent careers are also examined as revealed in the life history interviews of the restudy. Despite a drastically changing local labour market, and the fact that most of the workers were no longer working in the industries of their youth, the analysis reveals the sample retained a strong sense of occupational identity based on their initial transition experiences.The paper concludes by highlighting the significance of the findings of this particular data set. The data is unique because it provides a rare insight of the outcomes of decisions made by school leavers some forty years ago on their experiences of the labour market. As such it provides an invaluable glimpse of the lasting impact of the school to work transition on individual working lives.

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“…Mass HE may therefore be perpetuating the types of structural inequalities it was intended to alleviate. In the United Kingdom, as in other countries, clear differences have been reported on the class-cultural and academic profiles of graduates from different HEIs, along with different rates of graduate return (Archer et al, 2003;Furlong and Cartmel, 2005;Power and Whitty, 2006). For some graduates, HE continues to be a clear route towards traditional middle-class employment and lifestyle; yet for others it may amount to little more than an opportunity cost.…”

Section: He and The Labour Market: A Gradual Decouplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research by both Furlong and Cartmel (2005) and Power and Whitty (2006) shows strong evidence of socio-economic influences on graduate returns, with graduates' relative HE experiences often mediating the link between their origins and their destinations. Power and Whitty's research shows that graduates who experienced more elite earlier forms of education, and then attendance at prestigious universities, tend to occupy high-earning and highreward occupations.…”

Section: A Contested Graduate Labour Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes

2012

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The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of some of the dominant empirical and conceptual themes in the area of graduate employment and employability over the past decade. The paper considers the wider context of higher education (HE) and labour market change, and the policy thinking towards graduate employability. It draws upon various studies to highlight the different labour market perceptions, experiences and outcomes of graduates in the United Kingdom and other national contexts. It further draws upon research that has explored the ways in which students and graduates construct their employability and begin to manage the transition from HE to work. The paper explores some of the conceptual notions that have informed understandings of graduate employability, and argues for a broader understanding of employability than that offered by policymakers.

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Complex Transitions: Linearity and Labour Market Integration in the West of Scotland

Cited by 40 publications

References 5 publications

Revisiting transitional metaphors: reproducing social inequalities under the conditions of late modernity

Revisiting transitional metaphors: reproducing social inequalities under the conditions of late modernity

Continuity and change in the experiences of transition from school to work

Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes

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