Decentring Work

by Mair, Heather; Arai, Susan M.; Reid, Donald G.

• ISBN13: 9781552385005
• ISBN10: 1552385000
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-30
• Publisher: Univ of Calgary Pr

Summary

How has it come to be that paid work is seen as the primary avenue for attaining sustenance, self-esteem, and human dignity? This book encourages scholars and practitioners to rethink the relationships between leisure, social policy, and human development. Drawing on the expertise of some of the most innovative minds in the field of leisure studies from across Canada, this work questions how and why we have come to value paid employment as the marker of social success and individual self-worth and, more provocatively, investigates the role that leisure might play in its stead. The contributors probe the dimensions of marginalisation and oppression experienced by groups such as women living in poverty, aboriginal youth, new immigrants, and older adults, and shows how leisure can be a vital element in confronting issues in the social construction of homelessness, incarceration, dementia care, disability, and ethnicity. Using a mix of approaches from in-depth empirical studies to more conceptually driven discussions, the chapters weave together effectively into a treatise on notions of work, leisure, power, and social change. This new collection is essential reading for anyone in the field of leisure studies, recreation, or social work who is interested in the role that leisure can and should play in reshaping human and community development.