Work and Leisure

218 John T. Haworth and A. J. Vealthe spending power that is conferred and for additional reasons. Goingout to work widens people’s social networks beyond their kin andimmediate neighbours. Moreover, individuals who are earning are likelyto feel, and to be regarded by others, as having earned the right to spendon their own pleasures.(Roberts 1999: 93–4)He considers that leisure equality is more likely in conditions of economicequality. He recognises, however, that with the arrival of children, it is stillnearly always the mother who interrupts her career.The Future of Work Programme has produced a report on the ‘Future ofWork–Life Balance’ (Taylor 2001). This notes that the current focus inBritain on the relationship between paid work and parenting and caringreflects the dramatic growth in the proportion of women of adult workingage who are in paid employment. While recognising that this is important, thereport argues that it should be part of a much more comprehensive strategythat addresses work pressures and dissatisfactions experienced by both menand women in paid employment. The report notes significant class differencesin access to basic minimum rights for time off, and that differences in thedistribution of income and wealth, as well as power and authority within theworkplace, have not gone away, and may even have increased. However, it isrecognised that many small companies face genuine difficulties in providingbasic rights for time off. Nevertheless, the report advocates that generous andsensible policies that reconcile work with responsibilities outside the paid jobmight become one of the company’s commitment to wider social obligationsand part of the definition of what constitutes the good firm. A UK governmentreport on Life Satisfaction: The State of Knowledge and Implications forGovernment (Donovan et al. 2002) cited strong links between work satisfactionand overall life satisfaction, and also between active leisure activities andoverall satisfaction. It noted the case for government intervention to boostlife satisfaction, by encouraging a more leisured work-life balance.Full-time dual-earner families are on the increase in the United Kingdomand in several countries in Europe. Gender plays a key role in patterns ofwork and leisure. Lewis (2003) discusses the integration of paid work and therest of life, and raises the question: ‘Is post-industrial work the new leisure,viewed as an activity of choice and a source of enjoyment?’ Lewis notes thatpaid work is increasingly dominating people’s lives. For many people, work iswhat they apparently choose to spend their time on and enjoy doing, thoughexcessive workloads can be experienced as oppressive. Lewis also notes thatthe boundaries between work and non-work are, for many, becoming fuzzierand may be crowding out time and energy for personal life and leisure. Thestudy by Lewis and colleagues of accountants indicated that the dominanceof work over other activities was often seen as a life-choice, particularlyamong males where intense work involvement may be linked to professional