The 21st Century Ladz: The School-to-Work Transition and Masculine Identity of Marginalised Working-Class Young Men from the South Wales Valleys
Lead Research Organisation:
Cardiff University
Department Name: Sch of Social Sciences
Abstract
Senghenydd is an ex-coal community with a history of trauma where most men neither train for work nor leave the Valley. The research engages with the area history of male work, understanding work histories, trajectories and subjectivities, to find a way of engaging men at the local level in a pilot programme that supports men, in a trusted environment, to be able to enter training/education for new industries. That the provision be small and local, is essential for it to feel safe and non-threatening. Walkerdine and Jimenez, 2012 demonstrated the complex effects of the loss of heavy industry on masculinities in de-industrialised areas, making it vital to explore new ways of moving forward, combating alienation, a sense of hopelessness and multiple deprivation.
Rationale: This small-scale research and intervention in one community is proposed because it can allow the
development of a pilot support scheme, which, if successful, can be used as a model for further work in
de-industrialised areas. It uses co-designed research with the local community centre. It seeks to answer the question: Can locally-produced and targeted support assist in getting men in de-industrialised communities into training/education for new industrial work ?
Rationale: This small-scale research and intervention in one community is proposed because it can allow the
development of a pilot support scheme, which, if successful, can be used as a model for further work in
de-industrialised areas. It uses co-designed research with the local community centre. It seeks to answer the question: Can locally-produced and targeted support assist in getting men in de-industrialised communities into training/education for new industrial work ?
