Work and Leisure

222 John T. Haworth and A. J. Vealdesired. But the uneven distribution of power and authority in the workplace,crucial to negotiation, may have increased in recent years in many cases. Yet,as Chapter 10 by Iso-Ahola and Mannell indicates, understanding of the linkbetween active leisure and health and well-being is necessary to informindividual and collective choice and societal policy on work-life balance.Similarly, type of work is relevant, as Jiri Zuzanek shows in Chapter 7. Whilefeelings of ‘time crunch’ can have a negative impact on well-being, people canwork long hours without feeling ‘time crunched’ if they have freely chosentheir work and are interested in it – though, in families, this may be drawingon ‘collective social capital’ to sustain long hours of work.In developed countries increases in inequalities in income are associatedwith increases in mortality (Wilkinson 1996, 2000, 2002). As inequalitiesincrease, Wilkinson argues, the level of trust within the community decreasesand the quality of social relations deteriorate with a shift occurring frommore affiliative social strategies based on equity and inclusion (friendshiprelations) towards social strategies based on dominance hierarchies withincreased competition for resources, increasing levels of chronic stress. Lowsocial status can mean increased subordination and exclusion, and adecreased willingness to participate in the community. Insecurities from earlylife can also exacerbate the insecurities and stresses that go with low socialstatus. Studies indicate that wellness is achieved by the simultaneous andbalanced satisfaction of personal, interpersonal and collective needs(Prilleltensky 2001). As Zuzanek notes in Chapter 7, individual coping strategiesand lifestyle modifications alone are not sufficient to offset the negativeimpact of psychological stress on health. He indicates that most pressuresfaced by people in modern societies are social or structural. They are embeddedin the competitive demands of globalised economies, changing workplaceenvironments, and value orientations emphasising rapid material gainsand conformity with standardised and fast forms of expression prevalent inpopular culture. Pahl (2000, 2001) argues that the way societies are organisedhas a direct effect on the quality of social relationships, which will influencehealth and well-being. He considers that a more ruthless commitment tomarket principles and the development of a more low-trust society throughmultifarious controls can undermine the friend-rich nature of society anddecrease well-being.Retirement and ageThere is one sense in which a more leisured society has arrived – namely inretirement. A large proportion of the population of the West can now expectto live as much as one-third of their lives in retirement. Increasingly, theyexpect to do so at a standard of living well above the poverty level. While thisyields a substantial period of leisure at the end of life, ensuring financialsecurity during this period requires additional work in earlier years to pay