Summary
Loss: How should we understand the 'road not taken'? Laurie Taylor talks to Susie Scott, Professor of Sociology at the University of Sussex, about her study of lost experience - that vast terrain of things we have not done, that did not happen or that we have not become. Also, Tim Strangleman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, reveals a lost world of paternalistic employment in which people enjoyed a well-paid job for life, free meals in silver service canteens, after work sports & theatre clubs & a generous pension on the horizon – the story of the Guinness Brewery in West London.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want |
| 0:14.4 | to share that science with you. |
| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
| 0:19.4 | I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that |
| 0:25.4 | calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.3 | BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:37.0 | I'm Laurie Taver and this is a podcast for BBC Radio Four's thinking aloud. |
| 0:42.2 | How have you ever permitted yourself to think about your life not in |
| 0:45.7 | terms of what you did but in terms of what you failed to do? That's the sociology |
| 0:51.7 | of not doing or if you like the sociology of not doing, or if you like, the sociology of nothing. |
| 0:56.2 | Learn all about it here. |
| 0:58.2 | I'm ho, I know, it's on the mirth we go. Yes, there they go. |
| 1:05.0 | Doc, dopey, bashful, grumpy, sneezy, sleepy and happy, all off for a jolly day's work in the diamond mine. You know that's the only work song I know which isn't some sort of protest about works |
| 1:20.2 | downside about the long monotonous hours or the back-breaking tasks or the poor pay and |
| 1:26.2 | conditions or the lack of security or the fear of dismissal. But let's flip the coin. Let's imagine a workplace where workers enjoyed a well-paid job for life, |
| 1:37.0 | one where they could start their day with a pint of stout and a smoke and enjoy free meals in silver service cantines and restaurants. |
| 1:44.8 | Imagine working in a building designed by an internationally renowned architect, |
| 1:48.9 | spending your break exploring acres of parkland planted with hundreds of trees and thousands of shrubs and |
| 1:55.0 | spending your evenings with a company theatre group or playing one of 30 sports. |
| 1:59.4 | Imagine a place where at the end of a working life you could enjoy a company pension without having to pay a penny. |
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