British apprenticeship, 1800-1914
British apprenticeship, despite its importance in industry, and elsewhere, has been almost totally neglected by most labour historians. Where it has been discussed it has generally been in the context of industrial relations, and therefore tied solely to economic questions, such as wages and hours, as they affected adult workers and employers. In view of this imbalanced and narrow approach the task of this thesis is threefold: firstly, to present a total picture of the apprenticeship system; secondly, to analyse the factors which have influenced the development of the apprenticeship system itself, and the changing role of the apprentice within it; and, lastly, to offer an explanation as to why an institution inherited from medieval society continued to play a major part in modern British industrial capitalism. Under the terms of the first objective it will be argued that apprenticeship is more of a social relationship than an economic one, in the sense of seller of labour to buyer of labour. True, the apprentice was a member of the working class, but due to the educational aspect of his labour he was not seen as a wage-earner but as a worker/pupil. Learning rather than labouring, in fact, was how his work
Knox, William Walker
History
British apprenticeship, 1800-1914. British apprenticeship, despite its importance in industry, and elsewhere, has been almost totally neglected by most labour historians. Where it has been discussed it has generally been in the context of industrial relations, and therefore tied solely to economic questions, such as wages and hours, as they affected adult workers and employers. In view of this imbalanced and narrow approach the task of this thesis is threefold: firstly, to present a total picture of the apprenticeship system; secondly, to analyse the factors which have influenced the development of the apprenticeship system itself, and the changing role of the apprentice within it; and, lastly, to offer an explanation as to why an institution inherited from medieval society continued to play a major part in modern British industrial capitalism. Under the terms of the first objective it will be argued that apprenticeship is more of a social relationship than an economic one, in the sense of seller of labour to buyer of labour. True, the apprentice was a member of the working class, but due to the educational aspect of his labour he was not seen as a wage-earner but as a worker/pupil. Learning rather than labouring, in fact, was how his work
british apprenticeship british apprenticeship despite_importance industry elsewhere almost totally neglected labour historian discuss generally context industrial_relation therefore tie solely economic question wage hour affect adult worker employer view narrow task threefold firstly present total picture apprenticeship system secondly analyse factor_influence development apprenticeship system change_role apprentice within lastly offer_explanation institution inherit medieval_society continue play_major part modern british industrial capitalism term first objective argue apprenticeship social_relationship economic sense labour labour true apprentice member work_class due educational aspect labour see wage worker pupil learning rather labour fact work