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‘I just like working with my hands’: employment aspirations and the meaning of work for low‐skilled unemployed men in Britain's service economy

De‐industrialisation and the development of the ‘service economy’ have had a profound impact on the nature of work and employment in contemporary Britain. Theories of post‐ and reflexive modernity argue that individuals are able to reflexively reconstruct their identities in line with new social and workplace requirements. Yet, stagnating male employment and rapidly rising male economic inactivity suggests that men, in particular, are struggling to adjust to the demands of the new economy. Based on 35 in‐depth interviews, this paper explores how those most affected by economic restructuring—low‐skilled, poorly educated unemployed male manual workers—are adjusting to the development of the service economy. The paper argues that due to their education and skills and the way they strongly identify with particular forms of manual work, low‐skilled unemployed men are not reconstructing their identities by seeking employment in growth areas of service and non‐manual employment. Rather, the men continue to seek traditional and familiar forms of male‐dominated, low‐skill manual employment which are now in decline.