The narrative of Trainspotting is slightly peculiar as although many aspects of the narrative can be linked to Thatcherism they are not directly caused due to it.
The characters of Trainspotting are all young people that have clearly been affected by the idea of Thatcherism in one way or another as they are all young people who are unemployed (or at the very least, never seen working) and as a result are not earning any money and some still live with their parent's, which is clearly seen with Renton. This is one of the effects that Thatcherism in Britain caused during the time period and many people would assume that the character's unemployment is the reason why they do drugs hwoever that is clearly not the case. The characters are not bothered in the slightest by their lack of work and they actually prefer it to working. This can be seen in the scene where Spud goes for a job interview. Spud clearly does not want the job and only applied as he is required to apply for a job every so often in order to keep receiving money for being unemployed. However Spud can also not come across as though he does not want the job to the employers which is why he seeks advice with Renton. Spud goes through the interview as people normally would but also making sure that he just barely misses out on being hired. Unemployment is not an issue for these characters and is not the reason that any of them take drugs. Renton even says himself at the beginning of the film that they don't have a reason for taking them and do it because it 'feels good'. Thatcherism does play a role in the lives of the characters however it is not what causes them to take the actions that they take.
During the course of the film, Renton goes from 'opposing' Thatcherism to playing right into it's ideas. Renton moves to London and get a job as an estate agent. Housing estates in London were heavily linked to Thatcherism and an estate agent was the most 'thatcherist' job to possibly have. It somewhat pokes fun at politics and Thatcher's ideas as Renton goes from being a druggie to a somewhat upstanding citizen by playing into Thatcherism almost as though it is saying that in order to be model citizens people must 'give in' to Thatcherism and play by it's rules.
