Membership conditionality in an occupational community: Identity, inclusion and exclusion at Shelton Bar Steelworks

Cottrell, Harvey Ward

Abstract

Previous literature has highlighted the emotional shelter offered by occupational identities and communities during periods of hardship, where community members draw upon fraternal camaraderie to raise solidarity. While this research explores this process within a steelworker community, the exclusionary potential of occupational identity and community is revealed. Based upon narrative interviews with former steelworkers, this dissertation draws upon themes of social class, gender and deindustrialisation to offer a nuanced representation of a traditional working-class community. The central contribution of this thesis relates to membership conditionality within occupational communities, in which full membership was achieved through conformity to masculinised norms, while those unable or unwilling to reproduce masculine archetypes were ‘othered’ and excluded. While technical proficiency enabled steelworkers to signal communal membership, the mobilisation of symbolic knowledge was of greater importance to full acceptance, which bound workers to specific gender performances and identity resources. This research also highlights the emergence of social class within the steelworks, where occupational differences between craft, process and managerial staff generated an informal system of social stratification. Drawing on a processual approach to deindustrialisation, analysis highlights the protracted nature of Shelton’s decline and closure to generate richer insights into workers’ unique experiences of occupational community. The research demonstrates further boundaries to inclusion as departmental communities changed, in which the steelworkers altered their relationships as they coped with increasing precarity and discontinuity. Implications are raised for the study of occupational identities and communities, as the findings argue that researchers should consider how workplace communities come to discipline and control full members, while excluding those on the periphery.

Citation

Cottrell, H. W. (2025). Membership conditionality in an occupational community: Identity, inclusion and exclusion at Shelton Bar Steelworks. (Thesis). Keele University. https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/1279662

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Online Publication Date: Jun 26, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jun 17, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 27, 2025
• Public URL: https://keele-repository.worktribe.com/output/1279662
• Award Date: 2025-06