Deindustrialisation and Industrial Communities: The Lanarkshire Coalfields c.1947-1983

Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow Ph.D Candidate in Economic and Social History, Economic and Social Research

Council (ESRC) scholarship. EBHA Ph.D Summer School 2015

Introduction• Deindustrialisation

• Shared experiences in mature economies.

• Coalfields.

• Scotland

Thesis Overview• “Deindustrialisation does not just happen”

• Multifaceted approach.

• 4 chapters, fit into 2 sections: process and consequences.

• Policy and political economy.

• Moral economy.

• Social structure.

Background• Lanarkshire

• Coal and steel centre.

• Early designated coalfield decline.

• Centre of changes-new industries, new towns and social reconstruction.

Archival Sources• Complement different levels of detail and analysis.

• Limited quantitative statistics-employment structure.

• Marco-political economy-plans for reindustrialisation, and papers from Scottish Office.

• More detailed level-correspondence.

• NCB materials-locale and direct experience of deindustrialisation. Trade union and worker voices.

Sources 2• National Union of Mineworkers Scottish Area-political analysis, Scottish rather than British ‘peak’ or locale level. Industrial relations and political discourses.

• Oral history. Life story interviewing methods.

• Memory theory and narrative construction.

• In-depth interviews and focus groups.

Political Economy• Plans-an evolving modernisation agenda.

• Combined economic, social and political vision-new towns and new industries. Policy Network analysis.

• Regional policy application.

• FDI and subsidiaries.

• The abandonment of planning.

Moral Economy• Analysis from community and colliery level.

• Combine archival, Colliery level, meetings, NUMSA and oral testimonies.

• Social responsibilities and expectations of nationalised industry.

• Renegotiation and abandonment. Connection with political economy framework.

Identities and Gender• Investments in a sense of place and experience of

disruption.

• Oral testimonies, linked nature of locale, occupation, and class. Social infrastructure and associational life.

• National identity. Role of NUMSA in fostering a Scottish mining identity, based on archival research.

• Continuity of sectarianism argument.

• Gender and generational experiences.

Conclusions and Challenges• Scottish and international experiences.

• Aim to link the complex experiences of deindustrialisation.

• Economic, social and political elements.

• Challenge of linking process, outcome and different aspects.

• Role of Scottish nation and contemporary arguments and discourses.

References• Barry Bluestone and Bennet Harrison, The Deindustrialization of

America: Plant Closings, Community Abandonment, and the Dismantling of Basic Industry. (NY: Basic Books, 1982) p.14.

• ‘Lanarkshire Miners’ Scran <http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-199-850-C&scache=24589br665&searchdb=scran>

• ‘BBC Archives’, Guardian http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/4/17/1239966887065/BBC-Archives-The-BBC-Writ-005.jpg

• ‘Oral History’ North American Basque Organization <http://www.nabasque.org/Astero/oral_histpg_34273.jpg>

• ‘Burroughs Factory under construction, Cumbernuald (1957)’Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedouglascampbellshow/2973475338/ [accessed 23/2/2015].

• ‘Cardowan Colliery Plate’, Scott McCallum (2014).