Exploring the Life-courses of ‘Thatcher’s Children’ Stephen Farrall (CCR, Sheffield Univ). April 2017

Outline New ESRC grant Aims and objectives Datasets to be analysed Combining ideas from historical institutionalism and the life-course perspective Assessing the contemporary relevance of ‘Thatcherism’ today

Objectives What was the impact of the social/economic policies of the 1980-90s on 'Thatcher’s children with regards to … a) schooling (especially truancy and exclusion) b) home-leaving and homelessness c) engagement in the labour market, and d) family-formation? 12/11/2018 © The University of Sheffield

Objectives These will be explored with a view to understanding how changes in impacted upon the following: e) punitive sentiments towards offenders f) attitudes towards law-breaking, and, h) experiences of victimisation, offending and desistance from crime. 12/11/2018 © The University of Sheffield

How will this be done? Via the re-analysis of birth cohort studies: The National Child Development Study The Birth Cohort Study Next Steps Main focus likely to be on NCDS/BCS70. 12/11/2018 © The University of Sheffield

Outline of NCDS (1958) National sample. N = 17,733 Every child born in one week in March 1958. Interviews with parents, teachers, cohort members themselves, their spouses/children Test and medical data too. Interviews in 58; 65; 69; 74; 81; 91; 99; 04; 08; 12.

Outline of BCS70 (1970) National sample. N = 16,135 Every child born in one week in April 1970. Interviews with parents, teachers, cohort members themselves and their children. Test and medical data too. Interviews in 70; 75; 80; 86; 92; 96; 99; 04; 08; 12.

Key Research Questions/Foci Impact on housing careers Employment Social security changes Schooling policies How these influenced offending, victimisation and punitive sentiments

Do the sorts of policies which governments pursue … create issues which need to be attended to later (‘policies create politics’)? alter the sorts of opportunities open to individual members of society, and in so doing can alter the life courses of individual citizens? An idea drawn from historical institutionalism An idea drawn from the Life-course Perspective 12/11/2018 © The University of Sheffield

Do the sorts of policies which governments pursue … affect the timings of key transition points and staging/stages of individual lives (e.g. commencement of family formation), and in so doing does this encourage some into offending or leave them at risk of victimization? An idea drawn from the Life-course Perspective 12/11/2018 © The University of Sheffield

Do the sorts of policies which governments pursue … establish individual- AND national-level path dependencies which may become harder to ‘shrug-off’ as time persists? An idea drawn from historical institutionalism An idea drawn from the Life-course Perspective 12/11/2018 © The University of Sheffield

Assessing the Contemporary Relevance of ‘Thatcherism’ today Finally, we will commission, design and field a nationally- representative survey to assess the contemporary relevance of ‘Thatcherite’ attitudes and beliefs in the present. The survey will run in early 2019, so that results are available for the 40th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s election as Prime Minister in May 2019. Survey will run in England & Wales and Scotland. 12/11/2018 © The University of Sheffield