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Making sense of cultural and economic change: Qualitative insights from the Three cities programme
Pete Seaman and Fiona EdgarGlasgow Centre for Population
Health
Background• Glasgow’s ‘excess mortality’ is 30% higher than Liverpool and
Manchester. This is found across genders, all (adult) age groups and the social spectrum (Walsh, Bendel, Hanlon et al 2013)
• No one single cause is likely to explain the ‘excess’. More likely a combination of interacting factors
• The ‘socio-cultural hypothesis’: that Glasgow differs from Liverpool and Manchester in terms of its cultural outlook and perspective
What is the ‘socio-cultural’ hypothesis?
That Glasgow finds a different expression of the following collective traits:
• Psychological outlook Glasgow residents have lower aspirations and ‘time preferences’ than those in Liverpool and Manchester
• Glasgow has a different enactment of family life • Glasgow has limited social mobility in comparison with the
other two cities• Social capital is lower in Glasgow than the other cities
It is social capital that I focus on today but bear in mind there is much overlap between the categories
Methodology• 50 Key informant interviews• Sampling strategy
– Nine areas selected to represent socio-economically difference (‘deprived’, ‘middle’ and ‘affluent’) across the cities
– 3 ‘types’ of key informants for each area1) ‘Mediated’ – professional knowledge2) ‘Action’ – engagement with problems3) ‘Lived’ – local activists and residents
Fieldwork coverage
‘Deprived’ ‘Middle’ ‘Non
deprived’Total
Interviews (participants)
GlasgowInterviews
G16
G26
G36
18 (18)
LiverpoolInterviews
L14
L24
L33 11 (12)
Manchester Interviews
M15
M25
M35 15 (17)
Total interviews(participants)
15 (15) 15 (17) 14 (15) 44 (47)
In total, 46 interviews (50 participants) - Area specific: 44 interviews (47 participants) - Wider context: 2 interviews (3 participants)
Findings: responding to change in the nine communities
Three dimensions of change:
• Economic dimensions• Political/welfare dimensions• Shifting understandings and enactments of ‘community’ as a lived concept
– Changing importance of ‘place’
Types of social capital
• Bonding capital: links with similar people, with similar outlooks and values. Good for personal support
• Bridging capital: links with people with different outlooks and values. Good for taking advantage of new opportunities
• Linking capital: Links made with people in power, influence and structures that make decisions that affect your life and community
Community transitions in relation to social capital: Deprived neighbourhoods
Area Bonding Bridging Linking
Glasgow ‘deprived’
“Families standing alone”
Atomised experiences
Poor connections to geographically distant employment opportunities
Reduced:
Once “fought for everything it got”. Now alienation from politics and decision-makers
Manchester
‘deprived’
Tight, hyperlocal networks
Poor connections to geographically close employment opportunities
Cultural distance between service providers and users
Liverpool
‘deprived’
Strong sense of local social solidarity (city-level)
Concerns about growing transience (private landlords and difficulty integrating newcomers)
Reluctant cultural distance between service providers and clients.
Mistrust of mainstream politics- preference for local action
“Families standing alone”Points to decline in trust and collective values
“There is a strong sense of family life but whether it is right sense or a wrong sense who knows. I mean parents will stick up for their kids no matter what they do. They won’t look at the other side, there’s some families that’ll not look at the other side and just weigh in and stick up for their kids no matter what”
Glasgow 1,Lived 3
Community transitions in relation to social capital
Area Bonding Bridging Linking
Glasgow ‘deprived’
“Families standing alone”
Atomised experiences
Poor connections to geographically distant employment opportunities
Reduced:
Once “fought for everything it got”. Now alienation from politics and decision-makers
Manchester
‘deprived’
Tight, hyperlocal networks
Poor connections to geographically close employment opportunities
Cultural distance between service providers and users
Liverpool
‘deprived’
Strong sense of local social solidarity (city-level)
Concerns about growing transience (private landlords and difficulty integrating newcomers)
Reluctant cultural distance between service providers and clients.
Mistrust of mainstream politics- preference for local action
Example: Manchester deprived, disconnection from opportunity and mainstream values
Opportunity on doorstep but respondents operate discourse of cultural deficits locally.
“We’ve got to keep making sure the economic growth is there. But getting local people to pick up that opportunity, that’s the real objective”
Action 3
“So it’s about trying to change things and make people feel more aspirational”
Mediated 1
Community transitions in relation to social capital
Area Bonding Bridging Linking
Glasgow ‘deprived’
“Families standing alone”
Atomised experiences
Poor connections to geographically distant employment opportunities
Reduced:
Once “fought for everything it got”. Now alienation from politics and decision-makers
Manchester
‘deprived’
Tight, hyperlocal networks
Poor connections to geographically close employment opportunities
Cultural distance between service providers and users
Liverpool
‘deprived’
Strong sense of local social solidarity (city-level)
Concerns about growing transience (private landlords and difficulty integrating newcomers)
Mistrust of mainstream politics- preference for local action
Example: Liverpool, city level solidarity highly valued
“I think what really comes across in the culture here is local people supporting local people. No one likes to see anyone down on their knees.”
Community transitions in relation to social capital
Area Bonding Bridging Linking
Glasgow ‘affluent’
Small local networks established around child-rearing or professional identities
High degree of boundary maintenance with local areas
Investment in children's futures over collective improvement
Manchester
‘affluent’
Highly mobile population.
Concerns about isolation of elders
Transient but skilled population
Lifestyle and identity driven projects
Liverpool
‘affluent’
Two parents out at work means bonding links tend to be within families
Community activity thought more likely during retirement
City –level solidarity
Concerns about diminishing returns on higher education
Liquid community“Well, they’ll have some close friends, but some will be wider. They might have a friend at the other side of the world, because you get people who’ve had to travel for their work. There’s a lot more people who do contract work and they might be out somewhere like Dubai, somewhere like that … if opportunities arise, I’ve seen some people go to Africa to do work. … Their job means they’re jet setting all over the place
Glasgow (but could also be Manchester)
Community transitions in relation to social capital
Area Bonding Bridging Linking
Glasgow ‘affluent’
Small local networks established around child-rearing or professional identities
High degree of boundary maintenance with local areas
Investment in children's futures over collective improvement
Manchester
‘affluent’
Highly mobile population.
Concerns about isolation of elders
Transient but skilled population
Lifestyle and identity driven projects
Liverpool
‘affluent’
Two parents out at work means bonding links tend to be within families
Community activity thought more likely during retirement
City –level solidarity
Concerns about diminishing returns on higher education
What it means?
• Community means different things in different contexts– Some communities remain strongly wedded to
notions of geographical community– Economic life, in contrast, is more mobile. – ‘Embedded’ and ‘disembedded’ communities have
different strengths and weakness
What does this add to understanding Glasgow’s ‘excess mortality’?
• The ‘three cities’ are not as similar as they seem on statistical indicators
• Manchester: more advanced adaptation to ‘liquid modern’ idea of community and this highlights a different economic trajectory
• Liverpool: city –level commitment to social solidarity may be protective. Shows how collectivism can be re-imagined after decline of class-based politics
• Glasgow: sits between with a ‘liquid’ affluent experience and a ‘solid’ deprived one. Therefore, advantage does not flow from affluent area to others
