Working Class Women, Gambling and the Dream of Happiness

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3945388
AutoresEmma Casey (0000-0002-6634-6018, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Kingston University, UK., autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen89
Número1
Páginas122-137
Fecha de publicación2008-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaFeminist Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0141-7789 • E-ISSN: 1466-4380
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/fr.2008.2
OpenAlexW2019933935
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas21
Referencias citadas23

This paper offers an account of the relationship between gender, class and notions of happiness. It draws on recent research conducted into the experiences of working class women who play the UK National Lottery. In particular, it explores the notion that gambling offers working class women the opportunity to dream of the 'good life' - of enhancing their lives and of making 'improvements' to their own and their families' well-being. In this paper, the discourse of happiness will be examined, and the tacit assumption that working class women in particular are prone to turning to gambling as a last ditch attempt to personal and emotional fulfilment will be challenged. The paper argues that developing understandings of culture and consumption practices is imperative for producing a more complex understanding of the subjective realities of working class women's everyday lives. By engaging with feminist accounts of respectability, daydream and fantasy, the paper will present a thorough exploration of National Lottery play in working class women's everyday experiences of happiness

Class (philosophy) · Dream · Epistemology · Everyday life · Happiness · Lottery · Political science · Sociology · Working class · Diversity and Impact of Dance · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology