Exploring Complex Transitions: Looking Back at the ‘Golden Age’ of From School to Work

(2005) - John Goodwin, Henrietta O’Connor

Journal: Sociology
Link:: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038038505050535
DOI:: 10.1177/0038038505050535
Links::
Tags:: #paper #Transition #school-to-work #Education
Cite Key:: [@goodwinExploringComplexTransitions2005]

Abstract

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 article aims to re-examine the extent to which transitions during this time were complex, lengthy, non-linear and single-step and explores the assumed linearity and uncomplicated nature of school to work transitions in the 1960s. It is argued that earlier research on youth transitions has tended to understate the level of complexity that characterized youth transitions in the early 1960s and 1970s. Instead, authors exploring transition during this period concentrated on ‘macro’ or more structural issues such as class and gender. It is suggested that transitions in the 1960s were characterized by individual level complexity that has largely been ignored by others exploring school to work transitions.

Notes

“earlier research on youth transitions has tended to understate the level of complexity that characterized youth transitions in the early 1960s and 1970s. Instead, authors exploring transition during this period concentrated on ‘macro’ or more structural issues such as class and gender. It is suggested that transitions in the 1960s were characterized by individual level complexity that has largely been ignored by others exploring school to work transitions” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 1)

“Young people entering a local labour market no longer share common transition experiences with others as transitions have become more individualized: Analysis of the contemporary situation of young adults highlights an increasing fragmentation of opportunities and experience; the processes of youth are highly differentiated, reflecting and constructing social divisions in society in complex ways ... As possible pathways out of school have diversified, young people have to find their own ways forward and their own values in education, consumption, politics, work and family life. (Evans and Furlong, 1997: 33)” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 2)

“The evidence put forward to support the view that young people’s transitional experiences have changed usually appears in the form of drastic labour market transformations (Ashton and Lowe, 1991; Roberts, 1995, 1997), the rise in youth unemployment (Furlong, 1993; Roberts, 1997), the emergence of youth training schemes, the increased availability of post-compulsory education (Furlong, 1993; Roberts, 1997), changes in social security legislation (Furlong and Cartmel, 1997; Pilcher, 1995), and the increased complexity (and risk) of choice (Lawy, 2002; Nagel and Wallace, 1997).” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 2)

“She suggests, compared to contemporary transitions: The range of choices may have been different, leading to a greater homogenisation of possible pathways and individuals may have had less expectation of being able to design their own trail but the individual still had to negotiate and manage their own trajectory, whether it was of their own choosing or not. Indeed, the absence of apparent choice might be hypothesized to have brought its own risks and dilemmas. (Vickerstaff, 2001: 3)” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 3)

“Elias suggests that human beings are ‘interdependent, forming figurations or networks with each other which connect the psychological with the social, or habitus with social relations’ (Krieken, 1998: 49)” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 4)

“Elias conceptualized the intertwining as the inter-relationship between sociogenesis (the processes of development and transformation in social relations) and psychogenesis (transformation in habitus that accompanies such social changes) (Krieken, 1998).” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 4)

“Picking up themes from his other writings, Elias argued that the transition from school to work not only required the young person to learn new technical skills and the skills required to do the job but also to make adjustments ‘to relationships with older workers, supervisors ... learning new codes of behaviour’ (Elias, 1961: 1).” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 4)

“. Conversely, they argue that non-linear or complex transitions ‘involve breaks, changes of direction and unusual sequences of events’ (Furlong et al., 2002: 8) and can include extended or repeated periods of unemployment, frequent moves between jobs and returns to education and training after periods in the labour market (Furlong et al., 2002: 8).” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 6)

“Given Furlong et al.’s (2002) critique of the assumed non-linearity of current transitions, it is possible to question the assumed linearity of past transitions using the same typology. This typology implies that the transitions of the 1960s were linear and straightforward, involving no major breaks, divergences or reversals. It would also be fair to suggest that a linear transition of the past would not have involved any periods of unemployment or employment breaks, 206 Sociology Volume 39 n Number 2 n April 2005 SOC50535 Goodwin 4/3/05 3:00 pm Page 20” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 6)

“changes of direction, frequent moves between jobs or returns to education as, at this time, these were relatively uncommon experiences.” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 7)

“Frequent Job Moves” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 7) Create table of all datasets looking at this for descriptive stats

“Changes of Direction” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 8) Is there data on the type of work they did?

“Breaks and Unemployment” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 9) same as above

“A crude measure of individualization is the proportion of age peers in a person’s social network with whom he or she shares a common biography having grown up in the same district, attended the same schools, and entered similar types of employment at the same ages. Virtually everything that every individual does and experiences is still shared with many other people, but nowadays in a variety of individualized sequences and combinations. (Roberts, 1995: 113)” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 12)

“During the interviews the young workers were asked two questions that could be used as broad indicators of the homogeneity thesis. First, the young workers were asked ‘did anyone else you know have the same sort of jobs as you?’ Such a question touches upon Roberts’s notions of individuals sharing a common biography, growing up in the same area, attending the same schools and entering the same types of employment, as the question is specifically directed at the respondent’s relatives, friends and neighbours. Likewise, the same ‘type’ of employment that Roberts refers to is also captured in this question as it deals with types of jobs rather than with specific employers. The second question deals with the latter issue by asking the respondents ‘was there anyone you knew working in the same firm?’” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 13)

“Vickerstaff (2001) argues that earlier studies assume that transitions in the 1950s and 1960s were ‘single step’. It is suggested that the buoyancy of” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 13)

“the labour market in the early 1960s enabled young people to make a direct and single-step transition from school to work.” (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2005, p. 14) Super important thing to compare