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På spaning efter springpojken : Ungdomsjobb och sociala nätverk vid sekelskiftet 1900

Håkansson, Peter and Karlsson, Tobias LU (2018) In Historisk Tidskrift 138(1). p.33-62
Abstract
Searching for the errand boy: Youth jobs and social networks at the turn of the nineteenth century

During the decades around 1900 increasing numbers of young men and women in Sweden worked as errand boys and girls. There are diverging ideas in the literature of what these jobs actually meant. Some scholars regard them as the starting point of a future career, others as ”dead-end jobs”. This article investigates and discusses the errand boy job with regard to recruitment and career prospects. Drawing on theories of social capital and social networks, we analyze three volumes of workers’ memories published by the Nordic Museum, namely: workers in commerce, municipal workers and workers in the woodworking industry. The informants in... (More)
Searching for the errand boy: Youth jobs and social networks at the turn of the nineteenth century

During the decades around 1900 increasing numbers of young men and women in Sweden worked as errand boys and girls. There are diverging ideas in the literature of what these jobs actually meant. Some scholars regard them as the starting point of a future career, others as ”dead-end jobs”. This article investigates and discusses the errand boy job with regard to recruitment and career prospects. Drawing on theories of social capital and social networks, we analyze three volumes of workers’ memories published by the Nordic Museum, namely: workers in commerce, municipal workers and workers in the woodworking industry. The informants in our sample typically entered the labour market in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Our study reveals the diversity of experiences of young people in the labour market. We find examples of family-based recruitment (strong ties) among municipal workers and in the woodworking industry, but not among commercial workers. Compared to apprenticeships, young men could be attracted to working as errand boys by higher wages. The errand boy job content could include learning and we find examples of mobility into and from apprenticeships. In the studied setting, the position as errand boy was hardly a dead-end job. The reviewed evidence instead suggests that errand boys could form networks that were useful in their future careers. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
ungdomsjobb, sociala nätverk, socialt kapital, arbetsmarknad, 1800-talet, 1900-talet, errand boys, blind-alley jobs, dead-end jobs, social capital, social networks, school-to-work transition, careers, workers’ memories
in
Historisk Tidskrift
volume
138
issue
1
pages
30 pages
publisher
Svenska historiska föreningen
external identifiers
  • scopus:85053723775
ISSN
0345-469X
language
Swedish
LU publication?
yes
id
9ed1b7b7-bff6-44b2-a4a8-a1201c8ceaf6
alternative location
http://www.historisktidskrift.se/fulltext/2018-1/HT_2018_1_033-062_hakansson_karlsson.htm
date added to LUP
2017-11-23 12:09:46
date last changed
2022-01-31 00:17:24
@article{9ed1b7b7-bff6-44b2-a4a8-a1201c8ceaf6,
  abstract     = {{Searching for the errand boy: Youth jobs and social networks at the turn of the nineteenth century<br/><br/>During the decades around 1900 increasing numbers of young men and women in Sweden worked as errand boys and girls. There are diverging ideas in the literature of what these jobs actually meant. Some scholars regard them as the starting point of a future career, others as ”dead-end jobs”. This article investigates and discusses the errand boy job with regard to recruitment and career prospects. Drawing on theories of social capital and social networks, we analyze three volumes of workers’ memories published by the Nordic Museum, namely: workers in commerce, municipal workers and workers in the woodworking industry. The informants in our sample typically entered the labour market in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Our study reveals the diversity of experiences of young people in the labour market. We find examples of family-based recruitment (strong ties) among municipal workers and in the woodworking industry, but not among commercial workers. Compared to apprenticeships, young men could be attracted to working as errand boys by higher wages. The errand boy job content could include learning and we find examples of mobility into and from apprenticeships. In the studied setting, the position as errand boy was hardly a dead-end job. The reviewed evidence instead suggests that errand boys could form networks that were useful in their future careers.}},
  author       = {{Håkansson, Peter and Karlsson, Tobias}},
  issn         = {{0345-469X}},
  keywords     = {{ungdomsjobb; sociala nätverk; socialt kapital; arbetsmarknad; 1800-talet; 1900-talet; errand boys; blind-alley jobs; dead-end jobs; social capital; social networks; school-to-work transition; careers; workers’ memories}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{33--62}},
  publisher    = {{Svenska historiska föreningen}},
  series       = {{Historisk Tidskrift}},
  title        = {{På spaning efter springpojken : Ungdomsjobb och sociala nätverk vid sekelskiftet 1900}},
  url          = {{http://www.historisktidskrift.se/fulltext/2018-1/HT_2018_1_033-062_hakansson_karlsson.htm}},
  volume       = {{138}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}