McLachlan, CJ orcid.org/0000-0002-4867-9409, Mackenzie, R and Greenwood, I orcid.org/0000-0001-6265-2803 (2019) The Role of the Steelworker Occupational Community in the Internalization of Industrial Restructuring: The ‘Layering Up’ of Collective Proximal and Distal Experiences. Sociology, 53 (5). pp. 916-930. ISSN 0038-0385
Abstract
This article explores the relationship between occupational community and restructuring at a UK steelworks. Through historic and contemporary experiences, restructuring has become an internalized feature of the steelworker identity. Zittoun and Gillespie’s (2015b) framework of proximal and distal experiences is adapted to analyse the internalization process. The paper argues that experiential resources associated with restructuring are transmitted via the occupational community, forming a part of a collective memory of workplace change. These experiences relate to the historical precedence of restructuring, the role of trade unions in accepting the inevitability of downsizing, and prior personal and vicarious experiences of redundancy. The findings build on debates around the determinants of an occupational community, highlighting the role of ‘marginality’ and how experiences of restructuring bind steelworkers to a broader community of fate.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2019. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Sociology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | collective, community of fate, deindustrialization, downsizing, internalization, occupational community, occupational identity, redundancy, restructuring, steel industry |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Work and Employment Relation Division (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Feb 2019 09:46 |
Last Modified: | 26 Sep 2019 14:40 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0038038519836850 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:142740 |