Examining working class welfare in the age of deindustrialisation
through the experiences of the Scottish coal miner
Throughout the twentieth century Scottish miners resisted
deindustrialisation through collective action and by leading the
campaign for Home Rule. This book argues that coal miners occupy a
central position in Scotland's economic, social and political history,
and highlights the role of miners in formulating labour movement demands
for political-constitutional reforms that eventually resulted in the
establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. The book also uses the
struggle of the mineworkers to explore working class wellbeing more
broadly during the prolonged and politicised period of
deindustrialisation that saw jobs, workplaces and communities
devastated.
Key features
- Examines deindustrialisation as long-running, phased and politicised
process
- Uses generational analysis to explain economic and political change
- Relates Scottish Home Rule to long-running debates about economic
security and working class welfare
- Analyses the longer history of Scottish coal miners in terms of
changing industrial ownership, production techniques and workplace
safety
- Relates this economic and industrial history to changes in mining
communities and gender relations
