Publisher's Synopsis
There is longstanding interest in the relationship between mental health and work. Based on new data, this book challenges much of the conventional wisdom in this area. It suggests that the impact of neoliberal social and economic activity in the UK over recent years has meant the return of potentially debilitating forms of subjugation and exploitation. More people now struggle for fewer jobs of increasing intensity, reduced legal protection and lower real wages.
In addition, recent years have witnessed the implementation of unenforceable health and safety management standards and recommendations to guide workplace organisation. A key consequence of this approach has been the implementation of cultures of mental health replete with practices of discipline, control and identity configuration, with greater emphasis on productivity at the cost of mental wellbeing. This book outlines the way in which the lived experiences of mental health often fail to accord with modern industrial and corporate visions of acceptable personhood. In doing so, it questions the fundamental and largely accepted cultural maxim that work is unquestionably good for people with mental health difficulties.
