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. Sean 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.

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. Sean 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.

Over the last decase Glasgow's reputation has swung from being the home of gang violence and unemployemnt to being a vibrant and bustling cultural centre, a sea change epitomised by it being declared European City of Culture in 1990. What lies behind the change of image? In this lively and witty dissection of the city's social, cultural and political life, Sean Damer looks behind the marketing hype at a Glasgow which has always been a lively and stimulating city. The Glasgow he reveals is home to religious sectarianism and poor housing, but also to an internationally famous sense of humour, an intense local pride and a celebration of language that are second to none.