produced overcrowding and filthy living conditions necessitated by poverty in many Western urban communities (Brogan, 1990; Foner, 1980, 1965; Marr, 2009; Zeldin, 1979). Marr (2009) among others noted that the forms of popular culture which arose from the 19th century urbanization and resulting squalor, while being adopted by the rising middle classes, were none the less often despised for the vulgarity which derived from their familiarity with every aspect of human life. The content of this popular culture was often sentimental, sometimes focusing on religious themes, sometimes subservient to the status quo, perhaps mindful not to go foul of the wealthier patrons in society (Russell, 1997). In order to be made attractive to the dominant view, the contents of this popular culture were often cleaned up or their meanings obscured (Lloyd, 1969).
The squalid conditions described above generated social pressures leading to a series of housing reforms, the development of affordable public housing, and culminating in the new towns and cities of the late 20th century. Some people in the communities resulting from these housing schemes developed aspirational values as suggested by Clapson’s description of Milton Keynes image of ‘Middle England’ (2004). People who moved to these homes left their overcrowded environments and streets behind, and yet some looked back to the familiar community feeling this close proximity with others afforded. The mixture of sentiments this ambivalence suggests may be one of the reasons that the meaning that any culture confers to human life has become contested. Some aspects of culture become sanitized or suppressed in order to be palatable to the majority view in society. Further, the hardships of the past can become romanticized in historical re-interpretations of cultural experiences (Bromley 1989). If this is so, to what extent does cultural content accurately represent the meaning of the lived experiences of those who live the life that it is supposed to represent?
Another consideration as we attempt to understand how the whole notion of ‘meaning’ in human life develops is the observation that meaning appears to be historically intertwined with the development of spirituality, although this may depend on the nature of belief, which is a social construction. For much of the western world, spirituality seems to be connected with the rise and development of the church and the culture of Christianity, particularly in relation to the church as an institution through which religious meaning is interpreted and managed. According to Berger (1973) one of the purposes of religion was to provide a mechanism through which a consistency of meaning could be achieved. For a long period of time in the European history, Christian religion had been a key institution that structured the relationships between people, their rulers, and the stability of the world around them. However, many folk customs derived from earlier belief systems and these were frequently accommodated in the rituals and practices of the church, particularly in Western Europe. St. Patrick and St. Columba for example had to make their arguments for their faith using the language of their hostile druidic or bardic adversaries. The church itself preserved the ancient celtic cultures of Brittany (Markale, 1977) and Ireland (Lydon, 1998; Nagy, 1997) and, some argue, a form of the druidic tonsure (Ellis, 1994). These were ways of both asserting new spiritual meanings, and accommodating something of the old ways which people were being asked to give up. This kind of incorporation often appears to have taken place, although it does not always occur, in the adoption of new religions.
In order for those who professed the new religion to communicate its purpose, they had to accept elements of the indigenous cultures. For example, the 19th century British missionaries to China were encouraged to adopt Chinese dress and customs (Worrall, 1988). Often the church had to address the everyday needs of the people as a part of enabling them to find meaning in the Christian religious faith. During the rise of industrialisation, the English church and its various denominations launched missionary initiatives geared towards addressing the needs of the rising numbers of poor and oppressed groups of people, who were disadvantaged by the rapid social changes. These included initiatives to increase literacy to promote Bible reading as a way of encouraging church attendance (Edwards, 1984; Worrall 1988). These efforts of the church to create meaning in people’s lives did not eliminate class tensions. The middle class quest for meaning included both a desire for social distinction from the poor, whom they saw as lesser beings and as objects for social reform (James, 2006; Marr, 2007, 2009). They felt guilty about depending on the labor of the working class poor for their bourgeois comfort, while at the same time they attempted to contain the threat posed by the animalistic atavism social reformers such as Seebohm Rowntree or Charles Booth perceived to be perpetuated by the savagery of these poor (Marr, 2009).
The society in the 19th century was partly characterized by a rising middle class, with greater opportunities for men to travel, or perhaps work in the colonies. This development led to increasing numbers of middle class women with no prospect of marrying unless they did so below their social class. Others perhaps found that with the general level of ignorance of sexual matters and rising number of cases of venereal diseases, marriage was not a good prospect (Marr, 2009). These women were trying to find something purposeful to do at a time when disparities and consequent social injustices were increasing with population growth and migration. What came out of these social dynamics were in part the development of Christian socialism and the growth of evangelical religious movements (Jones, 1984) in which some of these women became involved. This was the context within which a number of key health and social care professions such as nursing, social work and subsequently occupational therapy were developed (Frank & Zemke, 2008; James, 2006; Pearsall, 1983; Pollard & Walsh, 2000; Sakellariou & Pollard, 2008; Trollope, 1994). These emerging professions gave women career structures which were unavailable elsewhere in strongly male ordered societies (Frank, 1992). Thus, a continuing theme of the pursuit of life meaning was that people in the working class aspired to the values of the dominant middle class culture (Haylett, 2003; James, 2006), and these aspirations began with middle class attempts to find meaning for themselves in response to changing social circumstances. While the social inequalities of the 19th and early 20th century were an important part of the context which gave birth to a range of health and social care professions, it is ironically possible that the economic problems of the first decade of this century generated a depletion of resources in the public sector affecting many of these health and social care workers and a resurgence of similar injustices (Dorling, 2011).
A perennial search for meaning
Frankl’s (1992) diagnosis of a social illness of meaninglessness may be appealing to those who are sensitive to the unjust consequences of economic changes, but the search for meaning by human beings involves much broader questions. Adams (1979, p. 125) points out that of the ‘problems connected with life […] some of the most popular are: Why are people born? Why do they die?’ Most people will have considered questions of this nature at various points in their lives. The search for meaning is a perennial human quest, and therefore should be a concern for occupational therapists and occupational scientists as part of their consideration of holism, client centeredness, meaningful and purposeful doing, and human functioning in relation to the environment. Occupational therapists in particular need to facilitate the process of answering these questions by their clients in order to optimize meaningful living. Frankl’s promotion of hope through transcendentalism provides the kinds of answers that would be available in religion. In this chapter, meaningfulness will be discussed as it has been defined by philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, theologians, and scholars from other disciplines. This definition will be a basis for exploring in subsequent chapters: how human beings have gone about searching for meaning throughout history; and how they can learn to live meaningfully through what they do (their occupations) every day of their lives.
About meaning
Philosophical definition
In the first section of this chapter, we made the point that human beings are, and always have been in search for meaning in their lives, and this search has always been connected to the development of society, culture, and community. In this section, we will go further and try to clarify what we mean by ‘meaning’, ‘meaningfulness’, and ‘meaninglessness’. At
