Misbehaviour on Retreat

Rule-Breaking and the Labours of the Self

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2392369
AutoresJ Hodgson (0000-0003-2327-6125, University of Manchester, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen29
Número4
Páginas965-980
Fecha de publicación2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Research Online (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13607804231215935
OpenAlexW4390953490
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas37

Current scholarship tends to frame retreat-going, and the practices carried out therein, as emblematic of late-modern forms of self-work, understanding retreats as part of broader personal life projects of self-mastery and self-knowledge. For this article, I draw on empirical data to suggest that, although work on the self is typically the central concern for retreat-goers, they also question or outright reject the discipline of the retreat space by breaking its 'rules'. Borrowing insights developed in the context of organisation studies, I describe two kinds of such 'misbehaviour' on retreat. First, I explore how retreat-goers misbehave in regards to the rules around intimacy, since sexual and erotic desire is usually discouraged but nonetheless features in retreat-goers' experiences. Then, I explore examples of collective misbehaviour and suggest that retreat-goers often work together to ensure the retreat's success by collaboratively breaking the rules through practices like gossip. This article contributes an understanding of how wellbeing practices might be usefully made sense of as social accomplishments, situated within the greater swathe of everyday life. But I also map out one way in which the concept of 'misbehaviour' might be applied to activities outside of the workplace

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