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This thesis examines continuity and change in the three Black Country localities of Pensnett, Tipton and Sedgley between 1945 and c1970. The dominant historiography of the period suggests that the prosperity of post-war British society, the safety-net of state welfare provision and unprecedented levels of consumer spending mostly eradicated the inter-war behaviour patterns of individuals, families and communities. Utilising the oral testimony of sixty residents from the three localities, and supplemented by a range of primary sources, the thesis demonstrates that growing affluence impacted only marginally upon the customary social mores of the lowermiddle and working-class inhabitants. Whilst aspirations to new housing and increased consumption affected perceptions of status and social standing, the economic strategies of the pre-war period prevailed. The thesis evaluates the effect of affluence upon earning, spending and saving. It questions assumptions that the support of kinship networks, matrilocality and community cohesion disappeared as slums were replaced with new housing estates. It demonstrates that the Welfare State impacted little upon attitudes to income and employment and that the wages derived from formal employment were augmented by informal work, penny-capitalist ventures and illicit activities. It shows that despite embracing the consumer society, families within these localities adhered to traditional methods of shopping and the financing of consumption. The thesis challenges the work of a range of historians who have emphasised change over continuity in characterisations of British society in the post-war period and endorses Hoggart’s claims that despite post-war innovations “old habits persist”

Nous vivons à l’ère de la mondialisation dans un monde qui a vu la multiplication des relations diplomatiques, économiques et culturelles. Ces échanges internationaux sont anciens avec notamment, le commerce triangulaire où les navires européens échangeaient des bibeloteries ou de l’alcool en Afrique, contre des esclaves qu’ils vendaient en Amérique du Nord et dans les Caraïbes. Ils repartaient ensuite vers l’Europe avec du coton, ou des denrées alimentaires, parfois nouvelles pour les sociétés européennes modifiant ainsi les habitudes culinaires et les cultures agricoles. « La mondialisation était en marche avant l’accélération qu’il est convenu d’appeler la révolution industrielle » (Grataloup 2001,p. 154). Dans un premier temps, les échanges n’ont concerné que des biens ne pouvant être produits ou collectés que dans des espaces particuliers, telles des productions végétales(coton, bois, fruits et légumes, épices), ou dont le poids et le volume rendaient difficile le transport (minerais et pondéreux). Avec le développement des transports, la réduction de leurs coûts et l’accroissement de leur efficacité (vitesse, diffusion, capacité de transport...),la quantité de biens transportés mais aussi leur nature ont évolué. Les trente glorieuses ont vu la diffusion de produits culturels comme la musique, les films ou encore les modes de vie et les rêves comme « l’idéal américain ». Il semble que, au-delà des pratiques sociales, ce sont les politiques qui paraissent être touchées par le phénomène de mondialisation. Les technologies de l’information et de la communication ont permis la réduction des distances, de leur rôle de barrière entre les individus et les sociétés. Le développement du moteur à explosion puis celui de nouveaux moyens de communications comme le téléphone, la radio ou la télévision ont été entièrement les vecteurs de ce rapprochement. / No abstract available

Evidence seems to suggest that with 14 years of unbroken economic growth, the UK’s construction and building services sector is experiencing severe skills crisis of between 40 – 50 per cent retention rate and declining numbers of entrant trainees. More importantly, the level of this severity varies with sub regional and regional peculiarities. To date, most studies on this area have focused on increasing the population of the existing pools of labour rather than harnessing existing ones. Adopting the concept of multiskilling, current techniques of evaluating skills crisis were critically reviewed. While there has been some empirically beneficial application of this concept in the US, it is a rarity in the literature to find previous works on multiskilling in UK’s construction and building services sector. Adopting an action research approach, a Project Steering Group of industry stakeholders served as a research ‘think tank’ for validating empirical results, and in line with the theory of construct validity, instruments of survey were designed and operationalized in a pilot and major surveys of supply and demand sides’ target groups. Employing the relative index ranking technique, the forecast implications of UK’s economic stability are ‘real’ and a demand led system is prescribed as a tentative ‘cushion’ for sustainable but immediate redress. A time series data for the period 1961 – 2004 is explored and systematised quantitative demand led models for evaluating construction output based on aggregated and disaggregated manpower attributes are developed using principal component regression (PCR). Aggregating these models, it is deduced that multiskilling could help redress skills shortage in the long term. A new trade equilibrium framework and a multiskilled focused partnership in training programme are prescribed with response strategies and recommendations.