Firstly I did not slur all rofl, hence stating its my experience only and cant be extrapolated to the wider community. Pyschology does do a great deal of quantitative research and much of its evidence comes from hard science ie medicine, neurosciences, biology, chemistry and that?s just the tiny fragment that deals with physiology of what makes us tick. I?m not the type of person that pays for a ?10k hoiliday of a lifetime and when I come home tell all the neighbours it was awesome when in fact it was terrible! So sorry for being truthful
I think there is probably corruption in everything. I?d also say from my experiences which have been quite vast in construction that I could make a good comparison. On site (private work is another matter) from the ground level through to basic management then in construction its pretty honest. You get elements of rough work mostly through lack of skill or ?gis a job? types than through sheer deliberate negligence. You do get a few corners cut now and then, it depends on the quality of the main contractor. Safety is the main issue its getting real poor, and that often translates into quality in work. Again its more a training issue than a malicious in it for the money issue. Since the collapse of the apprenticeship the industry has been relying on lads from 1989 backwards. Now they are getting less and less, but the problem is being masked by easier materials to work with. So all in all I?d say bar from a few materials going walkies on site its very honest at that level.
As you get higher the honesty level drops off. Higher site managers will pressure contractors to get materials for their homes for future work with them, the contractor just buys what they need on account and the site managers throw them an extra piece of the pie. Other than health and safety, any problems from geological surveys not being what you wanted to NHBC or Building Inspectors problems are paid off. Been there bought the tee-shirt. Also Structural Engineers that are called in if there is a major problem get kick back to buy more time to rectify problems. Higher management again will also pay certain well respected contractors, higher prices providing that contractor pays for their jollys as well as slipping them a wad.
You don?t see nowhere near as much money laundering or organised crime these days though. Still happens in the EU though. Mainly with labour, I worked all over Germany in the 1990?s and that was all run by dutch organised crime. All workers paid in cash by a runner that would fly around German sites. Back then it was all run out of Holland. I was invited to visit the man in charge due to doing so much work in Germany, it was an eye opener seeing how they had every single UK and other EU workers all working for them and the workers didn?t even know. Out the garden in this person?s mansion were rows and rows of metal portacabins. Above all the doors they had names of companies that you?d see advertised. That tickled me as all the adverts in the paper make it look like there are lots of companies looking to employ in Germany.
Also on the signs were star ratings 1 to 5. They were basically 1 you rip off the boys and the site and 5 you look after the lads and site. So this whole ethic of it takes you a while to get set up in Germany ie looking for work, finding a site and then if your wise and know what your doing in construction, you?d look at the site say to yourself this is dire hence I?m getting my cash and I?m off or I?m not and stay and get ripped and go home or learn and try again, was all set up by them. This pushed all the skilled and determined workers into the same firms (ie portacabin). I only saw the tip of the iceberg, and don?t get me wrong everyone had all the legal elements from Tax to Citzenship covered, it was certainly not kosha. One example that sort of gave it away was, I had trouble on one site with a few lads from up north ? all chancers and they?d come in pissed and cause fights. Normally I?d be able to sort these problems out, but they weren?t even tradesmen just ex-cons trying to make ends meet. Nonetheless ruining the site and causing trouble with the rest of the lads. I phoned my contact in Holland, the runner came with another man. The only time you see two is when they are carrying a lot of money to pay the sites. I was in the office, they asked the German site manager to leave called the boys in the office, gave them ?200 to cover their petrol home, the boys laughed, then the Dutch lads opened their jackets and that was the first time I ever seen handguns. Naturally I kept a fake as hell cool head, and the boys instantly babbled a few words and left very fast.
So the construction industry can be corrupt, but these days its more business and certain high people swindling the money ie it does not cost 40million for a school and 100million for a stadium rofl. But that kind of corruption none of us get to see. The bottom line is would I let my children go into construction these days, the answer is 100% yes. There is far less corruption, its more or less what we call having a ?tickle? ie a perk in today?s climate. I?d be more worried about getting them place with a damn fine skilled master craftsman than anything else.
In fact I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. My sons are coming of age, the oldest is awesome at academics. I?ve kept them away from site based work and skills, simply because I felt squeaky clean academics and white collar work would give them a better life. After my time in academia I no longer feel that is the case. I 100% believe universities, lots of research and the funding of research is very corrupt and much more concerned with money than education or forwarding the human condition. Also that most white collar work is full of back stabbing little people, where honesty and being able to speak your mind and still get on with each other are things of the past. So my plan is now that I will pay for them to do degrees providing they also learn skills, my oldest wants to do law, and will be starting soon. So I?ve spoken to a local solicitor to give my son a job which he said he?s full up, to which I said I?ll pay his wages, and ?50 a week for your trouble and you can sack him anytime if he don?t cut the mustard. He said he?s hired lol. Then in summer my mate who is an electrical engineer for a brilliant company is taking him on at vacation time, they?ll work away, and he?ll take him on for a year ie gap year, plus he?ll get paid ?300 a week, so my lads over the moon with that. Hopefully that will fit more with preparing for PO work wise than anything else.
The short answer Adam to your question of which is more corrupt to me is this, they both are, but one is like taking knocked off goods from a lorry / big business (ie construction), the other is like stealing from your neighbours house or pinching a workman?s tools. They are both wrong but the latter is so so so wrong ? there should be no corruption in academia and science but there is and it sickens me.
PS this is site based work and not private construction work though, gawd knows that area is full of theives and horrible people.
