Work, Leisure and Well-Being

Book excerpt: Although it is now well established that unemployment is detrimental to health and well being, most of us assume that a well structured, rewarding leisure activity would be preferable to paid work. John Haworth challenges these assumptions and shows that the very constriction of work, like having to perform a task we wouldn't otherwise choose, are often the most rewarding in the end. Work, Leisure and Well Being reviews the current literature and complements it with the findings of the most recent research to provide a serious and fascinating study of the most important areas of adult life. It raises as many questions as it answers; for instance, if paid work is better than a leisure activity, what's the use of looking forward to retirement? Work, Leisure and Well Being will be of interest not only to psychologists, but also to a wide range of professionals involved in social policy and the leisure industry.