The Work Cure : Critical essays on work and wellness

This collection of essays presents a powerful critique of the contemporary discourse of work as a moral necessity, good for our national economy and good for our mental and physical health.

This provocative collection of essays presents a powerful critique of contemporary discourse that portrays work - paid employment - as a moral imperative, essential for our health and well-being. The contributors describe the mental health impact of modern-day workplaces, with their precarity and constant managerial scrutiny. They throw light on the emerging role of the psychologist and psychotherapist as agents of the state within the welfare system. And they question the deployment of mindfulness and other workplace `wellness' initiatives in the place of more genuine and collective attempts to transform work. The Work Cure is an invitation to imagine a different kind of future, where employment no longer represents the chief source of security and meaning, so integral to our well-being. It is also essential reading for anyone who has doubted whether positivity, self-improvement and `resilience' can really be the answer to work's problems.