Life and Labour

Maria Giatsi Clausen is Senior Lecturer in the Division of Occupational Therapy and Arts Therapies at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and a trade union representative with University and College Union. Eurig Scandrett is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and a trade union representative with University and College Union.

‘This book advances an original argument both at the theoretical and empirical levels, which recentres ‘occupation’ as a meaningful activity. In so doing, it resists the radical sundering of the worlds of employment and life by capitalism, but also warns of the deepening domination of all facets of existence by the imperatives of capital. A critique is offered of the professional practices of occupational therapy as an expression of an alienated existence that adjusts people to the sources of their social suffering. Social suffering is all the more painful when people are made to feel that it is the result of personal failings, rather than the underlying conditions of structural inequalities of power. The case studies in this collection enjoin social movement theory to challenge the social reproduction of supposedly ‘natural’ incapacities, degradation and domination in grossly unequal social relations of class, gender, colonialism, neurodiversity, disability, environment, schooling and culture. It will be of interest to sociologists, activists, students and perhaps even professionals who wish to reflect critically on their practice.’ Alex Law, Professor of Sociology, Abertay University

• Part I 1. Occupation as Hegemony - Maria Giatsi Clausen and Eurig ScandrettPart IIPreface to Chapter 2: Capitalism and the Labour Movement - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen2. Trade Union Organizing for Life - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi ClausenPreface to Chapter 3: Patriarchy and the Feminist Movement - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen3. Gendered Occupation: How the Women’s Movement Has Challenged Sex Inequality in the Labour Market - Shereen BenjaminPreface to Chapter 4: Colonization and Anticolonial Resistance - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen4. Decolonizing Occupation: Everyday Forms of Resistance in Palestine - Juman Simaan and Mahmoud SolimanPreface to Chapter 5: Toxicity, Extractivism and the Environmental Movement - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen5. A Decent Environment for All - Eurig Scandrett and Bhopal Survivors’ Movement StudyPreface to Chapter 6: Resistance to a Disabling Society - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen6. Occupation and Disability: Alienation and Affirmation - Colin CameronPreface to Chapter 7: ‘Normal’ Occupations and Neurodiversity - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen7. The Autistic People’s Movement: Shifting the Narrative - Sara McHaffiePreface to Chapter 8: Psych Hegemony and the Mad Movement - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen8. Madness and Occupation - Alex Dunedin, Carmel Schmid and an anonymous neurodivergent scholar and advocate (with an introduction and conclusion by Eurig Scandrett)Preface to Chapter 9: Children, Infrapolitics and Youth Resistance - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen9. Resistance and Formal Schooling: Making a Case for Politicization and the Scholé - Maria Giatsi ClausenPreface to Chapter 10: Resisting Employment and Alternative Occupation - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen10. Mental Illness, Volunteering and Recovery: Transforming Work towards Human Flourishing - Heather HunterPreface to Chapter 11: ‘Professional’ Resistance and Alternative Occupation - Eurig Scandrett and Maria Giatsi Clausen11. How Do People Talk About Work in Art Therapy? - Chris Wood Part III12. Conclusion: From Meaningful Alienation to Emancipatory Praxis - The Role of Social Movements - Aline Godoy-Vieira, Maria Giatsi Clausen and Eurig Scandrett