'Sean Damer's exploration of 20th century council housing policy and practice is essential reading for all who seek to understand current social tensions in British cities. Meticulously researched and richly illustrated through the lived experience and testimony of Glasgow tenants, Damer provides a penetrating and convincing analysis of polarisation in contemporary British society.' Richard Rodger, University of Edinburgh A comprehensive social history of six Glasgow housing schemes in the first half of the twentieth century When the Corporation of Glasgow undertook a massive programme of council house construction to replace the city's notorious slums after the First World War, they wound up reproducing a Victorian class structure. How did this occur? Scheming traces the issue to class-based paternalism that caused the reification of the local class structure in the bricks and mortar of the new council housing estates. Seán Damer provides a sustained critique of the Corporation of Glasgow's council housing policy and argues that it had the unintended consequence of amplifying social segregation and ghettoisation in the city. By combining archival research of city records with oral histories, this book lets the locals have their say about their experience as Glasgow council house tenants for the first time. Seán Damer has taught sociology in the Universities of Strathclyde, Trinity College, Dublin, Manchester, the West of Scotland and Glasgow. Since early retirement, he has turned to creative writing, published a novel, and is working on several films and television drama series. Cover image: Christmas morning Craigendmuir Street, Blackhill housing scheme, Glasgow © John Nolan Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-4056-1 Barcode