ABSTRACT
The inhabitants of Peterhead are good enough sociologists not to call these simply ‘the effects of oil’. Some of the effects of oil have been indirect, and possibly hidden. The chain of events is an effect of oil although the reason why it is more difficult to have a car serviced is not because a garage mechanic has ‘gone into oil’. The single most important benefit that oil would bring to Peterhead, according to the supporters of local oil developments, was jobs. Peterhead and the Buchan area suffered from high unemployment and out-migration in the 1960s. The opportunities offered by oil were seen largely and simply in terms of work. The most dramatic increase has been in the number of women employed in the service sector.
