The Work Cure
Critical essays on work and wellness
Published on 9. April 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
268 pages
978-1-910919-43-9 (ISBN)
Description
This provocative collection of essays presents a powerful critique of contemporary discourse that portrays work - paid employment - as a moral imperative, essential for our health and well-being.
The contributors describe the mental health impact of modern-day workplaces, with their precarity and constant managerial scrutiny. They throw light on the emerging role of the psychologist and psychotherapist as agents of the state within the welfare system. And they question the deployment of mindfulness and other workplace `wellness' initiatives in the place of more genuine and collective attempts to transform work.
The Work Cure is an invitation to imagine a different kind of future, where employment no longer represents the chief source of security and meaning, so integral to our well-being. It is also essential reading for anyone who has doubted whether positivity, self-improvement and `resilience' can really be the answer to work's problems.
The contributors describe the mental health impact of modern-day workplaces, with their precarity and constant managerial scrutiny. They throw light on the emerging role of the psychologist and psychotherapist as agents of the state within the welfare system. And they question the deployment of mindfulness and other workplace `wellness' initiatives in the place of more genuine and collective attempts to transform work.
The Work Cure is an invitation to imagine a different kind of future, where employment no longer represents the chief source of security and meaning, so integral to our well-being. It is also essential reading for anyone who has doubted whether positivity, self-improvement and `resilience' can really be the answer to work's problems.
Reviews / Votes
'The idea that work, including the enthusiastic search for work, is integral to mental health has become a key ideological tenet of post-industrial capitalism. By re-introducing critical and political perspectives to this agenda, The Work Cure demonstrates that resistance is possible, and in doing so offers hope of a more emancipatory psychology.'; William Davies, author of The Happiness Industry.More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
420 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-910919-43-9 (9781910919439)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2019
PCCS Books
€24.49
Available for download
Person
David Frayne is a sociologist with a special interest in the ethical, political and social dimensions of possible `post-work' societies. He is the author of The Refusal of Work and numerous articles.
Content
Introduction - Putting therapy to work, David Frayne; Part 1: Mental management. 1 The black dog - Ivor Southwood; 2 No crying in the breakroom - Nic Murray; 3 Understanding affective labour - Jamie Woodcock; 4 Reproducing anxiety - Dave Berrie and Emily McDonagh; 5 Challenging McMindfulness in the corporate university - Steven Stanley. Part 2: The work cure.
6 The employment dogma - David Frayne; 7 Not in my name, not in my profession's name - Jay Watts; 8 The IAPT assembly line - Paul Atkinson; 9 The social and political origins of wellbeing - Psychologists for Social Change; 10 `We rebel because We misfit' - Arianna Introna and Mirella Casagrande; 11 Unrecovery - Recovery in the Bin.
6 The employment dogma - David Frayne; 7 Not in my name, not in my profession's name - Jay Watts; 8 The IAPT assembly line - Paul Atkinson; 9 The social and political origins of wellbeing - Psychologists for Social Change; 10 `We rebel because We misfit' - Arianna Introna and Mirella Casagrande; 11 Unrecovery - Recovery in the Bin.