Civil Labour, Leisure and Post Work Society

Abstract

Civil labour is devoted to the non-remunerative renewal and enlargement of social capital. This paper explores its role in relation to leisure in the context of the growing debate on citizenship rights. The links between social capital and reciprocity are elucidated and related to leisure motive and practice. Leisure is demonstrated to be the a priori of paid employment. Beck’s thesis of the “Brazilianization of the West” is critically discussed to show how the rise of post-work society curtails the responsibility to engage in paid employment and therefore to enjoy leisure. The concept of civil labour is explored as a civic requirement of post work society through Giddens’s work on life politics. The potential for the concept of civil labour to replace paid employment as the new foundation of leisure is critically discussed.