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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Anoop NayakORCiD, Graham Gaunt
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2026 The Author(s). The British Journal of Sociology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of London School of Economics and Political Science. Using biographical methods, the study explores the lives of 34 young people undertaking engineering apprenticeships in Teesside, Northeast England. It examines why working-class youth in a deindustrialised region might be attracted to engineering, how they might secure apprenticeship, and the invaluable role households play in orchestrating and sustaining these relations. To understand such youth transitions we develop the concept of ‘industrial capital’, deployed by adult male family members to leverage employment opportunities in working-class neighbourhoods. Where apprenticeship studies tend to focus on schools, training centres and workplaces, we argue for a need to connect these wider circuits of labour to the political economy of working-class households. In doing so, we explore how inter-generational labour histories may engender attitudes and dispositions, formative of ‘respectable’ work. Furthermore, the article discloses how working-class households ultimately finance the current apprenticeship system, which has implications not only for them, but for those from low-income backgrounds.
Author(s): Nayak A, Gaunt G
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: British Journal of Sociology
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 21/07/2026
Acceptance date: 06/07/2026
Date deposited: 03/08/2026
ISSN (print): 0007-1315
ISSN (electronic): 1468-4446
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.70155
DOI: 10.1111/1468-4446.70155
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
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