The Influence of Western Society's Construction of a Healthy Daily Life on the Conceptualisation of Occupation

Abstract

This article proposes that the current conceptualisation of occupation within the dominant Anglophone literature reflects central elements of Western society's construction of a ‘healthy’ daily life, the ‘ideal’ and expected way to live. Contemporary theories of social action are used to describe the structuring influence of social institutions on daily activity. Four of the commonly identified characteristics of occupation, that it is active, purposeful, temporal and meaningful, are discussed in relation to Western institutions and related aspects of daily life. It is not intended to provide a comprehensive account of the socio-historical construction of the concept of occupation, but rather to illustrate the coherence of characteristics of occupation with those of Western daily life. The implications of this for understandings of occupation amongst groups and communities with alternative constructions of daily life are discussed. Some examples are offered, particularly from Greece, as a Christian Orthodox, non-industrialised, largely collectivistic society.

Keywords:

• Occupation
• Theory
• Social constructionism
• Western society

Acknowledgements

Our sincere thanks to Sally Foster, Dr Virginia Dickie and Dikaios Sakellariou for their helpful discussions during the preparation of earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

1. In this discussion, ‘Western society’ will refer specifically to those western English-speaking countries, and particularly the USA and the United Kingdom, in which occupational therapy and later occupational science emerged and which have remained dominant in the professional and academic discourse.

2. The term activity will be used when referring to descriptions and sources from outside the disciplines of occupational therapy and occupational science. The term occupation will be used when referring to occupational therapy and occupational science understandings and sources.

3. In this discussion a broad view is adopted of what is understood to be a ‘healthy’ daily life, moving beyond both individual and medical perspectives to incorporate the sense that a community or group of people have for what is the ‘right’ way to live; what is ‘normal’, possible, and desirable. It is an understanding and knowledge that is shared at a practical or tacit rather than a discursive level and provides ontological security (Giddens, 1984).

4. While there is considerable debate in the literature regarding definitions of occupation, there is remarkably little debate regarding its core characteristics or assumptions (e.g. that it is active, the central importance of work and leisure, the importance of personal meaning), a notable exception being Hammell's 2009 article.

5. Currently in the USA approximately 78.4% of the population classify themselves as Christian, and 45% to 51% of these as belonging to Protestant churches (Kosmin, Mayer, & Keysar, 2001; Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, n.d.). In the UK 71.8% of the population declare themselves to be Christian of whom approximately 10% are Catholics (National Statistics, 2004).

6. This is the act by which God declares the sinner to be innocent of sin, which is received in the individual through their faith (Owen, 1823).

7. The Greek phrase is used to refer to how someone needs a complete change, often an evening of good entertainment, to ‘burst out’ from a period of hard work.