Did the Second World War represent a catalyst for social change in
Britain? What was the impact on masculinity of being in reserved
employment? And how were experiences of war in a specific British region
different and unique?
Masculinities on Clydeside explores the experiences of civilian men on
Clydeside during the war, using oral history interviews as a means to
explore subjectivity and arguing for continuous personal agency through
major historical changes. While men in reserved occupations are
understood as extensively influenced by 'imagined' discourses, often
resulting in feelings of guilt and emasculation, their subjectivities
were nonetheless ultimately rooted in their 'lived' and immediate local
vicinities, and the people and places of their everyday lives. This
ultimate relevance of lived existence and the everyday also meant that
while wartime relations between men and women were clearly shaped by a
range of gender discourses and continually renegotiated, gender
boundaries were never fixed or truly separate.
The analysis looks at wider subjectivities, encompassing national and
political identities, class consciousness, religious subjectivities and
social activities, as well as examining women's experiences of working
in reserved occupations in wartime and their interactions with civilian
men.