Patterns of Visibility: Unemployment in Britain during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

The key aim of this chapter is to look at how some groups of people in British society come to be viewed as ‘unemployed’ and how organized interventions directed towards them have been constructed. Who is defined as ‘unemployed’ has changed over time. It is also influenced by age and gender. We will explore these points in the following ways:

■ Section 2 asks you some questions about who you think is ‘unemployed’. This is designed to introduce the idea that the definition of unemployment is not straightforward and objective, but is rather a social construct, whose meaning varies at different times and in different places.