The business of leisure: sport, labour and co-operation in post-war Britain

Robertson, Nicole (2014) The business of leisure: sport, labour and co-operation in post-war Britain. Labor History, 55 (5). pp. 638-653. ISSN 0023-656X

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Abstract

Compared with the activities of its European counterparts, the sporting and recreational pursuits of the British labour movement are less well known. Yet the co-operative movement organised an impressive range of sports clubs, competitions and events. Whereas previous studies have examined the relationship between the labour movement and working-class leisure during the interwar years, this article considers the interactions of the co-operative moment with popular discourses on recreation in Britain from the 1950s to the 1970s. In so doing, it challenges assumptions about the Left's disconnection from sporting culture. The Co-op used sport to create a collective co-operative identity amongst its employees. Examining the social and political context of these activities in post-war Britain can inform debates on the construction of female identity through sport, the use of recreation for business advantage and the extent to which the co-operative movement shaped working-class leisure patterns. Although the article highlights that co-op sport formed a source of tension between the retail and wholesale sections of the movement and could be adversely affected by popular affluence, it argues that a reappraisal of the co-operative movement's recreational activities contributes to a broader understanding of post-war working-class culture.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	business, co-operative, labour, post-war, sport, working-class leisure
Subjects:	V100 History by period V300 History by topic
Department:	Faculties > Arts, Design and Social Sciences > Humanities
Depositing User:	Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited:	23 Oct 2014 08:03
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 19:24
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/17775

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