Abstract

This thesis examines the attitudes of young people living in three
northern new towns: Peterlee, Cramlington and Washington. It
shows that although the new towns represented attempts to provide new
planned environments for people living in areas which had been
heavily dependent upon mining as the principal source of employment,
the needs of young people were largely ignored when the new town plans
were drawn up. In particular, the developers were given no say over
educational provision and an analysis of the master plan reveals
that the provision of other facilities for young people were not
seen to be the developers' responsibility.
Empirical data for the study was obtained from a structured questionnaire
which was administered orally to young people resident in each
of the new towns. Analysis of the survey data revealed that the life chances
of young people from poor and working-class backgrounds do not
appear to be markedly better in the three new towns - young people
from working-class backgrounds were found to be less academically
successful and more prone to unemployment than were those from middleclass
backgrounds.
Young people were found to exhibit a high level of dissatisfaction with
the employment and training opportunities available to them, and with
the leisure facilities which had been provided for them. Respondents
from Peterlee were particularly dissatisfied with their new town
environment.
Finally, the attitudes of young people towards a range of political,
economic and social issues were examined. Those of low educational
attainment were found to be particularly alienated from the political
system and attempts 'Here made to link this alienation to their new
town environments. Three models of political behaviour - the class,
attitude and deferential - were tested for relevance, but it was not
possible to say which of these offered the best explanation of the
party political preferences expressed by the young people.