The Devil Makes Work by Clarke and Critcher | Review

The Devil Makes Work by Clarke and Critcher | Review In this essay I shall review The devil makes work by Clarke and Critcher. Using wider information I shall evaluate the books strengths and weaknesses and suggest implications for the sociology of leisure. The book deals with the historical development of what we now call leisure. The change from older forms of economic markets to capitalist industrialisation forced a schism in the work/leisure relationship. â€Å"The identification of leisure as the sphere in which needs are satisfied and pleasure found simultaneously makes work less susceptible to criticism as unsatisfactory and more salient as that which has to be tolerated to ‘earn’ the freedom of leisure.†[1] This demarcation is seen as the principle victory, in a stream of relatively uncontested battles, of capitalism in regards to leisure. The alienation of labour is made more tolerable by leisure activities and pursuits. Work became a means to an end, leisure. The sphere of leisure offered the ruling classes the opportunity to restrict and control workers lives further, in insidious ways, permeating what was supposed to be ‘free’ time. â€Å"If the working class wants alcohol and music, it shall have them but only to be consumed under certain conditions.†[2] Under the guise of caring for workers needs, and by setting up institutions of leisure, the dominant ruling classes could ensure that time away from work was spent in activities deemed appropriate. The point of this control was to ensure their productivity thus perpetuating the capitalist market. â€Å"The establishment of leisure as consumption†¦has also been of considerable significance.†[3] This was capitalism’s second great victory. The capitalist process, at its most fundamental, is consumption. By turning leisure into a commodity, to be bought, sold and used, revenue could be exploited. The irony and hypocrisy of the sphere of leisure, supposedly free of capitalist ideology, feeding that ideology with new avenues of revenue, production and reproduction, is shown by Clarke and Critcher. The book points out the fallacy of the ‘freedom’ of leisure. â€Å"The much vaunted democracy of the market-place rests on the rather less democratic foundations of the profoundly unequal distribution of wealth.†[4] Instead of resistance to the fact that choice is limited, nay controlled, by the market, we, the consumer, value what choices we do have all the more. Choice in leisure is curtailed by social division and unequal distribution. Clarke and Critcher indicate a direct link between the alienation of work, to an alienation of leisure, precisely because they conceptualise leisure as being a by product of what we term as work. Leisure is defined by work, caused by work and needed because of work. Resistance to leisure models is ultimately futile. The market can not completely control how leisure products are used, the young especially tend to use them in ways never envisioned. This would be seen as resistance except, â€Å"Such strategies may modify but cannot challenge the market/consumer model. Before we can modify the meaning and use of any commodity, we must first enter the market as consumers to acquire it.†[5] â€Å"The major forms and definitions of leisure seem to be changing under the diverse pressures of economic recession and the transition to a post-industrial society.†[6] The piece ends with some predictions. The current (1985) change to a post industrial society would cause mass unemployment. This unemployment would greatly impact leisure, not least because in the capitalist model leisure time is a reward for work, when a person isn’t working they receive fewer rewards. Clarke and Critcher’s work has its place in a continuum of Marxist thought. Simmel stated, â€Å"In this context then, the history of forms of leisure is the history of labour The exhaustion of our mental and physical energies in work lead us to require †¦leisure.’†[7] These notions support the work of Clarke and Critcher, that leisure is a reward for time spent working. The real purpose of leisure is to repair and relax the worker ready to once more be a useful member of the industrial complex. The ruling Bourgeois idea of leisure, for Veblen[8], was conspicuous consumption, the ostentatious display of wealth through the purchase of commodities. For Freud, it was, â€Å" Just this ‘objectivity’ which†¦viewing the individual as†¦consumer†¦regarded pleasure as the consequence of possessing valued objects.†[9] Freud depicted the Bourgeois ego as deriving its pleasure from owning commodities. This pleasure was leisure and inexorably, both implicitly and explicitly, the subordinate classes were compelled to adopt this view because, â€Å"the ideas of the bourgeois class are the ruling ideas in society.†[10] These notions support Clarke and Critcher’s assumptions. Clarke and Critcher state that their work, â€Å"Does not attempt to lay to rest all those complex definitional questions about what is or is not leisure.†[11] Moorhouse raises the very salient point that one could consider it blithely ignorant to conduct research without first defining what it is one is researching[12]. Clarke and Critcher rely on the ‘self evident’ truth of what leisure is. ‘Self evident’ truths are, quite often, less than self evident. They rely on common sense notions, but in this case sense is not necessarily common. For Moorhouse, their treatment of work is crude and their definition of leisure spurious. They refuse â€Å"To allow that paid labour can be, for most, a source of satisfaction, purpose, creativity, qualitative experience, and so on.†[13] Classical assumptions of the nature of work and leisure may no longer be sufficient. Clarke and Critcher themselves state that they are writing during a time of transition to ‘post-industrial’ society. If one takes this claim seriously then it has important implications. â€Å"The introduction of flexi-time and the development of human relations techniques in management have made the workplace less oppressive and monotonous for many workers†¦Moreover, technical progress enables paid employment to be conducted from the home.†[14] Technology, in particular that most wide of world webs, has magnified the possibilities of working from home further blurring the lines of what constitutes work and leisure. The dualistic and simplistic account as found in Clarke and Critcher may no longer serve. Their account seems isolated in a very specific moment, a moment of change. As noted above, they attempted predictions. Mass and continued unemployment never occurred and one can question how much this fact weakens the conclusions they derived. Some sociologists see leisure as a site for developing essential social networks, places that maintain and improve cohesion and interaction[15]. If one considers Simmel’s conception that sociability is leisure in its, â€Å"Pure form,’[16] then one might conclude that the development of leisure networks are a ‘morally’ good occurrence that let actors enjoy true or ‘pure’ leisure, pleasure and fun. â€Å"Social structure may also be manipulated by the intentional activities of actors.†[17] The Marxist based argument is one sided. The bourgeois are the active oppressors, the working class the submissive victims and there is no room for any real dialogue between worker’s and capitalist ideology. [18] Also it assumes that capitalist ideology is uniform and coherent. The ideological structure is rarely that simple. Feminist theorists such as Wearing[19] raise the issues of the problem of women’s experiences of leisure. Though raised in Clarke and Crichter’s work, their account does not, perhaps, delve deeply enough into the feminist sociological perspective. The structural and pervasive ideology of Marxism is, in many ways, present in feminist accounts, however particular attention should be paid to the fact that this ideology is exclusively the preserve of men, and is not exclusively economic. Theorists such as Butler[20] indicate the problem of explaining women’s position in society while being forced to use the only language available, the language of masculinity. Still further Collins critiques feminism as the preserve of white women only.[21]. â€Å"If one ‘is’ a woman then that is surely not all that one is†¦gender intersects with racial, class, ethnic, sexual and regional discursively constituted identities.†[22] In conclusion, Critcher and Clarke’s work fits very neatly within Marxist theoretical framework. As such it has the strengths, and indeed weaknesses, of much Marxist and neo-Marxist theory. Using any one methodology can leave a study exposed to accusations of one dimensionalism. This is a charge that can be levelled, probably fairly, at their thesis. Not only this, but the book, timed during a change in leisure practices, is dated and some of its conclusions are clearly inaccurate. Nonetheless that is not to say that the text is of no use as it does represent many of the dominant ideas that course throughout the study of leisure. The best way to proceed is to use all of the implications noted here, and yet others, when investigating the sociology of leisure. Bibliography Leisure for leisure edited by Chris Rojek. Published by Macmillan press 1989 The devil makes work: Leisure in capitalist Britain by J Clarke and C Critcher. Published by Macmillan 1985 Leisure in society, A network structural perspective by Patricia A Stokoswki. Published by Mansell 1994 Ways of Escape by Chris Rojek. Published by Macmillan Press 1993 Leisure and Feminist Theory by B Wearing. Published by Sage 1998 Gender trouble by Judith Butler. Published by Routledge 1999 Black feminist thought by P H Collins. Published by Routledge 1990 The theory of the leisure class by Thorstein Veblen. Published by The new American library 1959 Footnotes [1] The devil makes work: Leisure in capitalist Britain by J Clarke and C Critcher. Published by Macmillan 1985 p94-95 [2] Ibid p95 [3] Ibid p95 [4] Ibid p96 [5] Ibid p201 [6] Ibid p200 [7] Leisure for leisure edited by Chris Rojek. Published by Macmillan press 1989 p83 [8] The theory of the leisure class by Thorstein Veblen. Published by The new American library 1959 [9] Leisure for leisure edited by Chris Rojek. Published by Macmillan press 1989 p69 [10] Ibid p101 [11] The devil makes work: Leisure in capitalist Britain by J Clarke and C Critcher. Published by Macmillan 1985 pxiii [12] Leisure for leisure edited by Chris Rojek. Published by Macmillan press 1989 [13] Ibid p25 [14] Ibid p108 [15] Leisure in society, A network structural perspective by Patricia A Stokoswki. Published by Mansell 1994 [16] Leisure for leisure edited by Chris Rojek. Published by Macmillan press 1989 p87 [17] Leisure in society, A network structural perspective by Patricia A Stokoswki. Published by Mansell 1994 p112 [18] At least not in any meaningful way as we have seen in the above example, from Clarke and Critcher, the very entry into the market process taints any action with is ideological stigma. [19] Leisure and Feminist Theory by B Wearing. Published by Sage 1998 [20] Gender trouble by Judith Butler. Published by Routledge 1999 [21] Black feminist thought by P H Collins. Published by Routledge 1990 [22] Gender trouble by Judith Butler. Published by Routledge 1999 p6 Case Study: Socio-Economic Influences on Health Case Study: Socio-Economic Influences on Health Zivile Mikucioniene Introduction In the year 2005 the health promotion has been defined by World Health Organization. This program enables people to pose control over their health and its determinants. Through a healthy public policy the health promotion program can be occurred. Income, employment, housing, food security and quality working conditions are the basics of public policy. Recently this program is initiated in UK. It shows that there is a relationship between health promotion and social marketing. The potentiality of the integrative nature of the approaches has been highlighted and reinforced. By the time beings the program is developing and involving leanings of different sectors. The UK is integrating the elements of effective health promotion approaches with pertinent learning from social marketing and other disciplines and has adopted holistic approach. Task-1A LO1.1 The effects of socio-economic influences on Mary’s health The health issues are closely related with the factors of socio-economy. The factors have a great effect on health. Income is considered as a factor of health and if income is low the health will be poor. Moreover, health will also be better, when the income is higher. The factors are income and social status, physical environment, education, genetics, gender, social support networks and health services. Mary is a pregnant woman working in a supermarket in her city. As her income is not sufficient for keeping good health, she suffers from many problems. The effects of socio-economic influences on Mary’s health are many. The impacts of socio-economic influences on Mary’s health are: Social support networks: Social support networks of Mary were not good. For this reason, she could not maintain the socio-economic influences. Low income: Mary’s income was low. For this the low income have a great impact of socio-economy as well as on her health. Education: Mary was not so much well educated. So, she can’t influence the socio-economic factors. Genetics: As a woman Mary has some limitations. She can’t move to all side because of her pregnancy. LO1.2 The significance of government sources in reporting on inequalities in health Government research says that adverse environmental conditions create some significant social inequalities in exposure to and disease. These inequalities exist at many levels, between countries, within countries and within communities. As a professional woman Mary is facing some socioeconomic inequalities regarding health. In the light of government reports Mary is facing the following inequalities- Social inequalities related to ambient air quality There is an inconsistent relationship between exposure to socioeconomic status and air pollution. In some cases, the socioeconomic groups are in vulnerable position than the affluent group who are at higher risk. Factors affecting this include pre-existing health conditions, cumulative exposures and differential housing affordability in different geographical areas. Social inequalities associated with housing and residential location Most research identified people as being more at risk of exposure to environmental hazards, both within the dwelling, chemical and biological contamination, temperature, noise, sanitary equipment and in the inhabited are from lower socioeconomic groups. Gender inequalities Gender inequality is a great issue regarding health. Biological and social factors influence the way in which environmental factors influence health. Women are restricted in some ways such as in workplace or in society and these restrictions create inequalities. Social inequalities in the working environment and work related health risk Occupational life is quite related with health. The grade of employment, job control, job demands and economic rewards are the different aspects influencing professional life. The education and income as well as other factors like unemployment, immigration status, ethnicity and gender are the occupational factors that influence health condition. Education inequalities Education is somehow related to health. It is education which helps people to get a better job and be on a better financial position. But Mary is not highly educated as she quit school at the age of 15. That’s why it is quite difficult to get a good job and lead a better and healthy life for her. Financial inequalities Researches says that women are incoming low than men. As income is quite related to health so women are getting unequal services than men. In Mary’s case she works on a supermarket 16 hours a week. That is not a high profile job and she doesn’t get a very handsome amount as a salary. So it is quite difficult for her to get a better health care for her and her baby. Government research found out the aspects of socioeconomic inequalities which help to create a social awareness. The above aspects are quite related to Mary’s condition and we must say she is adversely affected by socioeconomic inequality. LO1.3 The reasons and the possible barriers for Mary accessing health care Health care is very essential for everyone because we all know ‘health is wealth’. The objectives of accessing health care are prevention of disease and disability, overall physical, social, and mental health status, quality of life, detection and treatment of health conditions, life expectancy, preventable death,. There are several reasons behind Mary’s accessing in health care. Under pregnant condition Mary used to smoke for that reason her physical condition was not good. Besides, she tried to change her lifestyle. Moreover, she wants to take care of her health. There are some barriers to Mary’s accessing health care. For those barriers she has problem to take health care. Some of the main barriers of Mary’s accessing health care are: Geographical barriers: Because the distance of Health care centre Mary can’t go to the Heath care centre. Cultural barriers: For the cultural barriers Mary can’t go to the Heath care centre. Financial barriers: Financial ability or condition of Mary was not good. For the high cost of health care Mary can’t access to this. There are also some reasons and barriers for Mary to go to the health care Centre. But these are the main reasons and barriers behind accessing health care. Task-1B LO2.1 the links between government strategies and models of health promotion Government plays an important role to improve the health care service of the country. They took improve the health condition of the countrymen and prevent the adverse effect of socioeconomic inequalities. There are also some models which are developed to provide better health care. However there are some links between the government strategies and models. We identify some relations between them shown as follows- Encourage cessation of smoking. To ensure health service for every class of people such as low income people, affluent group. There are some initiatives taken to deal with social problems and health inequalities according to health promotion model. Bring out the socioeconomic group from vulnerable position. Make sure that no gender inequalities can lead any inconvenience to take health service. Make a healthy living for the citizens for the purpose of living a healthy life. It is clear that there are several links between government strategies and models of health promotion. No inequalities should be practiced in case of health care service. Nobody should face inequalities in case of health service, no matter who he or she is. These all indicates that people of different class are equal in getting health care services. And these encourage proper care and treatment for the pregnant women. And these strongly discourage smoking as well so that no people die in cancer. LO2.2The role of different professionals in health and social care have on meeting health promotion targets set by government There are many professionals who help the government to go to the targets of health promotions. The role of different professionals in health and social care are many for health promotion. The professionals help or support is much more important for the government to go through the goals. Nursing and Midwifery Council guidelines help Mary to protect her confidentiality. Mary gets the extra benefits from the professionals to the health promotions. Those professionals help Mary to take health care for meeting health promotion targets set by the government. There are many roles performed by the different professionals in health and social care for meeting the health promotion targets set by the government. They are as follow: Help to cure the diseases Help to prevent from diseases Help for nursing in time of pregnancy Help economically Help to minimize risk Help to get ride of poverty These are the roles played by different professionals in health and social care for meeting the health promotion targets set by the government. LO2.3 The role of routines in promoting healthy living with respect to Mary Healthy living is the pre-condition for the self-development of any person. Mary has a unborn child as she is pregnant. It is more important for the woman with a unborn child. A routine life is the pre-condition, to maintain a healthy body or to prevent from any diseases. Mary must follow a routine to protect herself as well as her unborn child as she is a pregnant woman. Mary should not smoke specially at her pregnancy period because it can harm herself and mostly her unborn child. She may lose her health and her unborn child may also be affected to the diseases, if she does so. She can be healthy and can protect her unborn baby, by following the routine. Otherwise, she may get sick or her child may also be sick. At last we can say to maintain a healthy life Mary can follow a routine which can help Mary to prevent from any kind of diseases. The unborn child may also be safe from the routine life like not smoking in the pregnancy time. Because, smoking can harm Mary as well as her unborn child. Task-2 LO3.1 The theories of health behavior and health beliefs transformation into behavior There are many theories of health behavior in health promotion sectors. Some of the important theories of health behavior are as follows: Organizational change theory Community organization theory Diffusion of innovations theory Theory of planned behavior Social learning/ social cognitive theory Theory of reasoned action These theories are more often used in transformation of the health beliefs into the behavior. Mary believes those health beliefs and does her duties and maintains her lifestyle in the following ways. Those health beliefs once may go to the behavior of her. These theories transform Mary’s health beliefs to her behavior. After all we find that through the health beliefs Mary makes it to the behavior of herself. Mary’s health behavior theories can transform the health beliefs into the behavior. LO3.2 the potential effects of conflicts with local industry on health promotion Government earns from various sources. Tax from local tobacco industry is one of those sources. So it contributes in the national economy. On the other hand government initiates health promotion program which encourage cessation of smoking. That means there is an inevitable conflict between this two. With millions of their customers either dying from tobacco-related illnesses or quitting each year, it is critical for the tobacco industry to keep recruiting new smokers. There is an obvious conflict while government earning from the tobacco industry and on the other side initiating health promotion program which is strongly discouraging tobacco business. As we know from the case that Mary is a smoker. From the view of national economy it is contributing in the national economy. But it is so much injurious to health and causes cancer. It is also detrimental to her unborn child. The health promotion program is initiated to discourage all activities that harmful to health. It encouraging the prevention of all inequalities that Mary face while accessing to health care. It strongly encourages cessation of smoking. There are more than one billion smokers in the world and globally this number is growing. The health promotion program is trying to prevent the tobacco business. But it provides a segment of government income every year through taxation. If the promotion program continues than the government income source will be narrowed. But if smoking cannot be prevented then it will remain a great risk for human health. So it is better to bring the number of smoker to a lowest level and make them aware of the bad effect of smoking. LO3.3 The importance of providing relevant health related information to the public The government and other authorities should provide the relevant health related information to the public. So that the people can be aware about their health and they may take care of their health as well as health promotions. Mary is a pregnant woman lives in UK. So the government and the authorities should provide her all health related information to avoid any kinds of health hazards. For example health related information can make the health of Mary sounder than anything else. So it is more important for Mary to get the proper health related information. Another example can be that, if proper health related information would available to Mary before her pregnancy, she would not go to such awful habits like smoking cause, it is more harmful for her to pregnancy. Therefore, she would get the defensive measures to prevent any diseases and her unborn child health. At last we see that information is more important for keeping better health for any pregnant woman like Mary. That’s why Mary should be provided with the relevant health related information by those of the authorities. Task-3 LO4.1 understanding of health promotion and ability to plan a specific health promotion campaign This work will help me to understand the health promotion. This will also help me to plan for a specific health promotion campaign. It is clear that there are several links between government strategies and models of health promotion. These all indicates that people of different class are equal in getting health care services. So no inequalities should be practiced in case of health care service. Nobody should face inequalities in case of health service, no matter who he or she is. There are more than one billion smokers in the world and globally this number is increasing. But it provides a portion of government income every year through taxation. So the health promotion program is trying to prevent the tobacco business. If it happens than the government income source will be lessened. But if smoking cannot be prevented then it will remain a great threat for human health. So it is better to bring the number of smoker to a minimum level and make them aware of the adverse effect of smoking. LO4.2 Health promotion campaign supports government health promotion strategies This health promotion campaign supports all the government health promotion strategies. The government and other authorities should provide the relevant health related information to the public. So that the people can be aware about their health and they may take care of their health as well as health promotions. Government research says that there are significant social inequalities in exposure to and disease from adverse environmental conditions. These inequalities exist at many levels, between countries, within countries and within communities. Task 4: Self Evaluation: I take help from the internet and books to complete the assignment. The assignment helps me a lot to understand the health promotion issues. I use the Wikipedia and many others web site to find the data of the assignment. I have completed the assignment by myself. . I usually find the data of the assignment from the UK health promotion bureau. This work will help me to understand the health promotion. This will also help me to plan for a specific health promotion campaign. I see that it is more important to be more aware about the health issue to keep fit and be healthy. If it happens than the government income source will be lessened. But if smoking cannot be prevented then it will remain a great threat for human health. A portion of this income comes from the local tobacco industries. So it contributes in the national economy. On the other hand government initiates health promotion program which encourage cessation of smoking. That means there is an inevitable conflict between this two. So it is better to bring the number of smoker to a minimum level and make them aware of the adverse effect of smoking. There are many sources of income of government. That means that this assignment helps me to find the ultimate benefit and understanding about the health promotion sector. Conclusion Health promotion program is a very important issue. Mary’s health promotion is basically more important for her to maintain her health and her unborn child care. The promotional activities are also an important activity for anyone to follow. References World health organization(1986). WHO, Geneva. Ottawa charter on health promotion In Davies, J, and MacDonald, G, (eds) Quality, health promotion: Striving for Certainties. pp-5-11 Epp , J. (1986) Evidence, and Effectiveness in Health Promotion: Striving for Certainties, Routledge, London, UK, pp, 5-18 MacDonald, G. and Davies, J. (1998) Reflection And vision: Proving and improving the promotion of health. Rapfael, D. (2000) The question of evidence in health promotion. Health Promotion International