The Pit and the Pendulum

About this book

"The Pit and the Pendulum presents a detailed account of the local economy of Rhondda Cynon Taff and a history of the region's inward investment development strategy. The Valleys have suffered a sustained period of economic depression, which intensified following the pit closures of the 1980s and 1990s. This book provides a critique of successive economic development policies that have failed to regenerate the area, exemplified most recently by the ill-fated involvement of global corporations with the south Wales economy. Molly Scott Cato argues that the explanation for this failure is the inherent conflict between competitive and individualist economic models and the community-based culture of the Valleys. In The Pit and the Pendulum she uses Rhondda Cynon Taff as an exemplar of how a new employment policy, responsive to local culture and local workers' priorities, might be developed." "As a first step along this path towards rebuilding the local economy, Molly Scott Cato presents the findings of a survey of local attitudes towards work carried out in Rhondda Cynon Taff, focusing especially on the social valuation of occupations and local attitudes towards the inward-investment employment strategy. The book includes details of the investment by foreign companies such as LG in south Wales, as well as a case study of Tower Colliery."--BOOK JACKET.