Scheming: A Social History of Glasgow Council Housing, 1919 - 1956

by Seán Damer

When the Corporation of Glasgow undertook a massive programme of council house construction to replace the city's notorious slums after the First World War, they wound up reproducing a Victorian class structure. How did this occur? Scheming traces the issue to class-based paternalism that caused the reification of the local class structure in the bricks and mortar of the new council housing estates.

Sean Damer provides a sustained critique of the Corporation of Glasgow's council housing policy and argues that it had the unintended consequence of amplifying social segregation and ghettoisation in the city. By combining archival research of city records with oral histories, this book lets the locals have their say about their experience as Glasgow council house tenants for the first time.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published September 14, 2017

About the author

Now retired, Dr. Seán Damer was an academic sociologist for over 30 years, latterly a Senior Research Fellow in the University of Glasgow. He is passionately interested in the urban history of Glasgow and has authored numerous scholarly articles and books such as Glasgow: Going for a Song and Scheming: A History of Glasgow Council Housing 1919-1956. His interest in the Irish Connection stems from his own extensive research into the social history of the city, and the rich oral history of his own family.

Reviews

[Kevin Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good account of Council Housing in interwar (and slightly beyond) years. Its a good analysis of exceptionally under researched area. Some very useful information of occupational analysis in the areas of Corporation housing. Its clear author has exceptional knowledge of the city and its housing. Only slight criticism is an almost over reliance in some chapters of small numbers of oral testimonies. This however is small issue. An extremely valuable book for understanding Glasgow housing overall