Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Unemployed workers, 'enforced leisure' and education for 'the right use of leisure' in Britain in the 1930s

Olechnowicz, A.

Unemployed workers, 'enforced leisure' and education for 'the right use of leisure' in Britain in the 1930s Thumbnail


Authors



Abstract

This article examines the views of those who regarded the unemployment of the 1930s not solely as a disaster, but as a liberating new form of leisure for workers, provided that they could make the 'right use' of this leisure. This was an urgent challenge for more and more workers would soon be faced by 'a vast surplus of leisure time' made possible by technological change. The solution was to use the voluntary adult education movement to guide workers towards this 'right use'. The problem was that the grants which the government and charitable trusts made available to the voluntary sector were too small for the task and, more fundamentally, the analysis was misconceived and contradictory. But these opinions did serve to reinforce the case against public works, and legitimised a continuing desire to supervise working-class life on the part of the state and its partners in the voluntary sector.

Citation

Olechnowicz, A. (2005). Unemployed workers, 'enforced leisure' and education for 'the right use of leisure' in Britain in the 1930s. Labour History Review, 70(1), 27-52. https://doi.org/10.3828/lhr.70.1.27

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2005-04
Deposit Date Oct 23, 2006
Publicly Available Date Apr 28, 2009
Journal Labour History Review
Print ISSN 0961-5652
Electronic ISSN 1745-8188
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 70
Issue 1
Pages 27-52
DOI https://doi.org/10.3828/lhr.70.1.27
Keywords Unemployment, Psychological impact, Voluntary adult education movement, Technological change.
Publisher URL http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/lhr/2005/00000070/00000001

Files

Published Journal Article (143 Kb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
© 2004 Society for the Study of Labour History





You might also like



Downloadable Citations