Seafarer & Community : Towards a Social Understanding of Seafaring

Seafarer & Community (1973) examines life on shipboard and how the communities which rely on the sea for their livelihood exist. The main theme running through the chapters in this book is the observation of seafaring as an occupational community, as observed by anthropologists, economists, geographers, psychologists, seafarers and sociologists. The book explores the nature of seafaring communities, and asks whether they exist as communities in their own right or if they are occupational subgroups within a larger community. It also examines the psychological impact on seafarers of working within the closed communities of ships, and analyses the problems of training and recruitment.