Traditional Apprenticeship, Normative Expectations and Sustainability of Masonry Vocation in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine whether the normative expectations among masons has positive or negative influence on young people’s interest in masonry. The norms and values a vocation’s practitioners operate with may affect the appeal of the vocation to new and potential apprentices. Yet, whether or not a vocation continues to survive depend on how successful its norms and values order expectations of different categories of people in its fold. Data were derived from interviews and focused discussions among 30 masons and 16 apprentices. The results show that normative relations between masons and apprentices increase apprentices’ anxiety. There are indications that apprentices find challenging some of the conventions that dictate the process of training. Whereas master masons feel less concern about traditional expectations on apprentices, many apprentices believe that some aspects of informal apprenticeship training process emphasize disturbing social and economic interaction with attendant disinterestedness among apprentices.