Smoking and workers’ autonomy: A qualitative study on smoking practices in manual work

Abstract

A massive amount of research has brought out the association of daily smoking with social class. Smoking remains very common in the most disadvantaged groups, but it has also maintained its popularity among manual workers. The starting point of the article is that what needs to be taken into account in explaining the social differentiation of smoking is the social context in which smoking takes place. The study is based on interviews of daily smokers, ex-smokers and occasional smokers from different occupational backgrounds. In this article, the focus is on manual workers (N = 19), and the main interest is in the meaning of smoking in working-class contexts and how it is attached to daily routines and social settings in manual work. Theoretically, the study draws on the pragmatist idea of habits and how they are formed in accordance with the context. As a shared ritual, smoking was a self-evident part of daily routines at the workplaces under scrutiny. The study shows how smoking was a legitimate way to challenge the official rules and to make the work more bearable by increasing social contacts and a sense of belonging. Paradoxically, smoking was to a great extent an unquestioned routine, but at the same time it increased the autonomy of the workers in terms of their daily tasks.