Workers’ Identities in Transition: Deindustrialisation and Scottish Steelworkers

Abstract

Deindustrialisation is often characterised as an ending, with sentiments of intangible loss and
identity disintegration defining displaced workers’ narratives of job loss. These experiences
are important, yet workers do not cease to exist with the closure of their workplace. Despite
this, little attention has been paid to the post-redundancy employment experiences of former
heavy industry workers or the survivability of their specific occupational identities and work
cultures. This article examines the post-redundancy employment of former Scottish
steelworkers. Given their previous immersion in a distinctive occupational culture, a study of
the post-redundancy employment experiences of these workers offers a window into the
afterlives of deindustrialisation. Oral history is indispensable in prioritising working-class
perspectives, therefore this article draws on seventeen newly conducted oral history interviews
with former Scottish steelworkers who were made redundant in the early 1990s. In order to
better understand the long-term impact of deindustrialisation, as well as gage the survivability
of occupational identities and work cultures, this article examines the ways in which
steelworkers’ post-redundancy employment contrasted with steelmaking, focusing on the
following thematic areas: the significance of work; trade unionism and collective values;
masculinity and emasculation; occupational community and workplace culture.