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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol.8, No.3

Publication Date: March 25, 2021

DOI:10.14738/assrj.83.9894.

Hyland, T. (2021). The Repair Shop as a Sign of the Cultural Resurgence of Craft and Manual Work. Advances in Social Sciences

Research Journal, 8(3) 459-466.

The Repair Shop as a Sign of the Cultural Resurgence of Craft and

Manual Work

Professor Terry Hyland

Free University of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

ABSTRACT

Given the low standing of vocational studies in English education and

other systems around the world at the present time, it is refreshing to

note the resurgence of interest in craft and manual work. The

currently popular BBC programme, The Repair Shop, is a celebration of

this renewed interest and offers an especially graphic representation

of the virtues and values of craft and handwork. It is suggested that

such example of cultural practice can help towards the enhancement of

vocational education and training in schools and colleges, and assist in

bridging of the divisions between academic and vocational studies at

all levels of education systems.

INTRODUCTION

A perennial problem in English education is caused by the vocational/academic divide within

which vocational and manual pursuits are routinely subordinated to academic and intellectual

activities. Research connected with the investigation of white working-class educational

underachievement by the House of Commons Education Committee in 2014 [1] reported that it was

the most disadvantaged pupils – those in receipt of free school meals – who ‘were most likely to

study vocational programmes’, and concluded with the observation that:

We consider that vocational education is an important subject that deserves future

scrutiny. In particular, a careful balance needs to be struck between ensuring that

young people are given access to an academic education while avoiding portraying

vocational routes as a second-class option (p.59).

In a similar vein, the report on the transition from school to work by the House of Lords Select

Committee on Social Mobility in 2016 [2] decried the ‘unspoken snobbery in favour of academic

qualifications rather than vocational qualifications’ (p.49), and made a raft of recommendations

for the improvement of this state of affairs.

Similar reports and recommendations have been made for decades yet – despite a permanent

revolution of policy reforms, from competence-based strategies, modern apprenticeships, to the

current T level qualifications – the status of vocational studies has not been improved. Vocational

courses are still a second choice for many school and college students, a fact made even more

surprising by the direct relevance and obvious importance of vocational skills and qualifications in

the contemporary workplace.

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 3, March-2021

Against this background there has been a surprising resurgence of interest in craft and manual

work in recent years. Matthew Crawford in his Shop Class as Soulcraft [3] sought to emphasize the

‘cognitive demands of manual work’ and, within the context of craftwork, explained that:

Skilled manual labour entails a systematic encounter with the material world,

precisely the kind of encounter that gives rise to natural science. From its earliest

practice, craft knowledge has entailed knowledge of the “ways” of materials – that is,

knowledge of their nature, acquired through disciplined perception. At the beginning

of the Western tradition, sophia (wisdom) meant “skill” for Homer: the technical skill

of a carpenter, for example (p.21).

In a similar way, Trevor Marchand in a recent dialogue with Nigel Warburton for the Big Ideas in

Social Science collection of readings [4] defines his role as a craft worker, researcher and writer in

terms of addressing the misguided and harmful distinction (attributed here to Da Vinci) ‘between

manual labour and intellectual work reflected in the division made between “craftwork” and “fine

art”. Criticising an education system in which ‘working with the hands is perceived as a fallback

position – a second choice’, he defines his mission in terms of ‘challenging the mind-body

dichotomy’ and explains that his ‘research aims to explore and expose the complexity of

knowledge that is actually involved in handwork, and thereby raise its status in the eyes of

educationalists, the government, and the general public’ (p.124).

A contemporary echo of these sentiments is illustrated fully in the immensely popular BBC series

The Repair Shop [5]. Billed as an antidote to our throwaway culture, the series of programmes

does far more than this and sends a message which is directly relevant to the problem of the

subordinate status of vocational pursuits. The overarching message is that craft and manual work

is valuable, rewarding, aesthetically pleasing and conducive to community harmony and

collaborative enterprise. Its key values are fully in line with Matthew Crawford’s [3] idea of

manual work as that which involves the ‘learning of aesthetic, mathematical and physical

principles through the manipulation of material things’ (p.31), and has echoes in Marchand’s [6]

interpretation of craftworking as one which:

counters the classical emphasis on internal “mind” operations and challenges the

separation drawn between the mental arithmetic and the physical doing, by making

the sensing, feeling, acting, and socialised body the locus of its enquiry (p.12).

All these qualities can be illustrated through ways in which The Repair Shop is characterised by

social collaboration amongst craftworkers, the values of careful manual activity, and the

ethical/affective idea of repairing articles as a service to the public.

WORKING COLLABORATIVELY

Items are brought into the shop – often ones with special sentimental value such as radios or

pieces of furniture associated with deceased friends and relatives – and the repair shop workers

immediately pool ideas about how to refurbish and restore to life the articles presented. Typically,

a leatherworking expert would consult with woodworkers about an item of furniture and the

process of refurbishment would be illustrated throughout various stages up to its completion,

often in a nearly-new state. Such collaboration is intrinsically fascinating and engrossing but,

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Hyland, T. (2021). The Repair Shop as a Sign of the Cultural Resurgence of Craft and Manual Work. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(3)

459-466.

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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.83.9894.

more significantly, it illustrates the supreme importance of team work in all aspects of

craftworking.

Marchand’s specialist work and studies in the field has brought him into contact with a diverse

range of craftworkers around the world and his collection of readings on ‘problem-solving’ in the

field [6] offers some fascinating insights into the social world of work. It is argued that solving

problems of various kinds is at the heart of craftwork, and its central place is illustrated by

reference to a wide range of accounts of the multifarious and ingenious ways in which problems

are conceived and solved in different craft domains. Solving problems in the production of digital

videography – explains Durgerian for example – involves technical knowledge of recent

innovations in the field, in addition to having a grasp and feel for the history of film making and a

heightened sensitivity to diverse audiences. Often solutions to problems in the field call for

‘stargazing breaks’ which allow ‘unconscious processes to work’ on non-linear difficulties (p.94).

The field of bike mechanics, on the other hand, is described by Martin as:

An interesting case for the craft paradigm because the problems that the bike

mechanic works with are not result of his or her own processes going awry; rather,

problems are the starting point from which the mechanic approaches the craft (p.73).

Martin provides a fascinating account of how workers go about repairing the many faults that can

befall cycles and how – in the workshop – there can be ‘severe limitations of language as a basis

for problem solving’ (p.83). In the context of the ‘social habit of work in the mechanics’ workshop’

a form of ‘group problem solving’ emerges in which communication about faults and problems is

conveyed through diagrams, direct interaction with tools and bike components and, at times,

‘fruitful misunderstandings’ (pp.80,84).

All of these features and qualities are graphically illustrated in The Repair Shop as the various

experts examine different problems – say of replacing a worn and out-of-date stylus cartridge in

an ancient record player, or replacing the faded leather of a document case – and consult to

achieve the best solutions. It is a dynamic process of the intermingling of different craft

knowledge, skills and traditions in the achievement of collaboratively designed objectives.

THE VALUES OF CRAFTWORK

Richard Sennett’s [7] comprehensive historical research in the area led him to suggest that ‘all

craftsmanship is founded on a high degree of skill’ typically involving ‘about ten thousand hours of

experience’, and that craftspeople ‘are dedicated to good work for its own sake’ (p.20). Such work

is inextricably linked to codes of ethics. As Sennett explains:

Craftsmen take pride in skills that mature. This is why simple imitation is not a

sustaining satisfaction: the skill has to evolve. The slowness of craft time serves as a

source of satisfaction; practice beds in, making the skill one’s own. Slow craft time

enables the work of reflection and imagination – which the push for quick results

cannot. Mature means long; one takes lasting ownership of the skill (p.295).