The Wider Subjectivities of Men in Reserved Occupations in Wartime Glasgow and Clydeside

This chapter analyses the narratives of men who worked in reserved occupations in Clydeside to explore wider aspects of their individual subjectivities other than gender. Areas of subjectivity examined include national identity (picking up from the discussion in Chapter 3 and looking at men of non-British or Scottish nationality), class consciousness and political identity, religion and social activities. This chapter widens the picture of how men in reserved occupations experienced the war, arguing that male reserved workers were aware of ‘imagined’ collective subjectivity on a national level, and that important similarities existed between the subjectivities of men who worked in different regions of Britain, particularly those with higher proportions of men working in reserved occupations. The chapter re-enforces the notion that the subjectivities of such men existed on different levels and reflected to varying degrees the concepts of ‘imagination’ and ‘living’, making clear that the subjectivities of male civilian workers in wartime Clydeside comprised different national, ethnic, religious, class and political attributes, all integral and important to reserved men before, during and after the Second World War. Arguably, however, men were often aware of these integral aspects of their subjectivities on an ‘imagined’ level, and many aspects of them were superseded by a pre-occupation with everyday living, also continuous and fundamentally unchanged by wartime. In arguing for the continuity of different ‘imagined’ and ‘lived’ forms of subjectivity among men in reserved occupations in wartime Clydeside, this chapter re-enforces the notion that, although integral to masculinity, temporary wartime ideals did not fundamentally change the masculine subjectivities of male civilian workers.

Re-negotiated Social Relationships: Women in Reserved Occupations in Glasgow and Clydeside

This chapter acknowledges that men working in reserved occupations did not live and work in vacuums but in communities alongside other civilians, notably women. The chapter looks at women’s experiences of working in reserved occupations in Clydeside, including their feelings of contribution to the war effort, self fulfilment in work and, in some cases, dislike of work and lack of attachment to the war effort. The chapter also examines the extent to which the subjectivities of working women could be described as uniquely regional during the war, moving towards an understanding of the separate subjectivities of men and women as existing in ‘living’ communities and relationships in history, where the abstractions of social and cultural discourse are inextricably intertwined with the physical realities of day-to-day existence. A central argument is that women’s wartime work in Clydeside was representative of re-negotiated relationships with the men in their communities rather than destabilising masculinity. The chapter also looks at the wider subjectivities of women in reserved occupations and the importance to them of place.

Belonging to Glasgow and Clydeside: Retrieving Regional Subjectivities in Wartime

This chapter examines the extent to which civilian men working in Clydeside during the war possessed distinctive and unique regional subjectivities. The chapter considers issues such as national identity and feelings of solidarity with men working in reserved occupations in other British regions. The chapter primarily argues, however, that distinctive regional aspects to worker subjectivity in Glasgow and Clydeside are revealed in oral testimonies. Much evidence emerges of local pride in industries around the Clyde. While some of this can be linked to the specific contribution of the region to the British war effort, such pride can also be attributed to feelings of deep knowledge, understanding and awareness of the region as a distinct locality, based on the immediacy and proximity of everyday life in the area to the subjectivities of reserved men. Indeed, the majority of oral testimonies reflect the notion that men in reserved occupations in wartime were often indifferent to the idea of ‘imagined’ British nationality, adhering more to local regional subjectivities. The attitudes of women towards male civilian workers, and consequently the subjectivities of reserved workers themselves, were firmly rooted in the immediacy of the distinctive industrial and working class environment of Clydeside. However, such local subjectivity often had a narrower focus than the city of Glasgow or the entity of Clydeside and was restricted to the places and people best known and most familiar to men. Although different levels of collective, ‘imagined’ subjectivity existed during the Second World War and were highly significant, ‘lived’ and continuous local subjectivity was inevitably most relevant to the individual male civilian worker in wartime.

The Schedule of Reserved Occupations, Oral History and Other Methodologies

This chapter begins by discussing important theories of masculinity underlying the arguments in the book, before defining the policy of reservation in Second World War Britain and its implications. The geographical boundaries of the study are also defined here, with the areas understood as being incorporated into ‘Glasgow’ and ‘Clydeside’ discussed. The chapter also defines the notions of ‘lived’ and ‘imagined’ subjectivities, which centrally underpin the arguments made in the book, before considering the methodologies used in conducting the research involved, primarily oral history. The chapter moves on to look at uses of oral testimonies in previous historical research before examining the different kinds of oral testimony used for this study, including those held in existing oral history archives and newly conducted oral history interviews. Finally, the chapter examines other primary source materials used in this research, including cultural materials such as newspapers, novels and films.

Conflicting Masculinities? Men in Reserved Occupations in Wartime Glasgow and Clydeside and their Masculine Subjectivities

This chapter specifically considers the impact of being in reserved occupations during the Second World War on masculine subjectivity, exploring questions such as whether men felt emasculated as a consequence of their civilian employment, whether they associated masculinity with proximity to the war effort and whether alternative masculinities, not linked to the war effort, were relevant to men in civilian employment. The chapter also considers the relationship between the temporary changes in men’s lives in wartime with the continuity of their careers, as well as links between age, skills and manliness. The chapter concludes that oral testimonies reveal a spectrum of ways in which masculinity was asserted by male civilian workers in wartime Clydeside. The chapter argues, however, that continuity and the contingencies of everyday life were more dominant features of the masculine subjectivities of male civilian workers on the Clyde than the temporary, albeit significant and influential, discourses of wartime. The notion that war did not represent a watershed for men working in reserved occupations emerges most clearly from their oral testimonies. While such men were demonstrably affected by multiple discourses, found in cultural and official sources and evident in the attitudes of other civilian men and women, these discourses shaped ‘imagined’, although not fabricated, subjectivities. The ‘lived’ subjectivities of male civilian workers on the wartime Clyde, while existing in a fluid alliance with such ‘imagined’ subjectivities, were arguably rooted in everyday life and the people surrounding them on a day-to-day basis.

Conclusions

This final chapter concludes by examining the extent to which wartime represented a period of change in the lives of reserved men in Glasgow and Clydeside and the extent to which the period represented continuity. The chapter highlights the need to look further at the post-war lives of reserved men and women to explore these ideas of continuity and change in greater detail.