The Weekend: Time, Space and Everyday Life in Manchester and Salford
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Ebrey, Jill. 2006. The Weekend: Time, Space and Everyday Life in Manchester and Salford. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]
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Text (The Weekend: Time, Space and Everyday Life in Manchester and Salford)
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Abstract or Description
The central issue is an analysis of the social construction and significance of the weekend. This is examined in the contexts of both historical and contemporary Manchester and Salford. The analysis uses theories of spatiality and temporality within everyday life, examining the extent to which the weekend can be considered both different to, and part of, everyday life. It considers whether the weekend can still (or could ever) be considered a more autonomous `time space' or if `flexible' working patterns will undermine it. In that these micro processes of everyday life are where the macro economic policies are enacted, this study has wider political implications.
Two main methods are employed. Primary and secondary historical source materials used to understand aspects of both the development of the weekend and the way in which it has been practised in Manchester and Salford. The contemporary weekend is addressed through two pieces of fieldwork; one with people holding allotments in south Manchester and the other with supermarket workers in Salford. These consist of interviews with individuals which were recorded, transcribed and manually coded to develop themes.
The analysis indicates that the weekend remains an important and pervasive institution. However, for some social groups, notably those working in the retail sector, the weekend is being eroded. There is increasingly a divide between workers like these, who are expected to work at weekends, and those who have weekends `off as a matter of course. Key areas of the analysis include marking the boundary between the week and the weekend, what people do, who they see and where they go; in short, an assessment of how the everyday spatialities and temporalities of interviewees construct their weekends.
As well as contributing to our understanding of the hitherto relatively unexplored institution of the weekend itself, this thesis adds to our understanding of the temporal and spatial construction of our social world and the constraints under which this process operates.
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Item Type: |
Thesis (Doctoral) |
| Identification Number (DOI): |
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| Keywords: |
the weekend, Manchester, Salford, spatiality, temporality |
| Departments, Centres and Research Units: |
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| Date: |
2006 |
| Item ID: |
28903 |
| Date Deposited: |
30 Jun 2020 10:31 |
| Last Modified: |
08 Sep 2022 14:31 |
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URI: |
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