finance.yahoo.com/news/the-case-for-a-21-hour-work-week.html
Thu, Jan 12, 2012, 5:15 PM EST - US Markets closed The Case for a 21-Hour Work Week It would create jobs and stop the unsustainable cycle of rampant consumerism.
FAST Company By Michael Coren | FAST Company - Wed, Jan 11, 2012 2:17 PM EST To save the world -- or really to even just make our personal lives better -- we will need to work less. Time, like work, has become commodified, a recent legacy of industrial capitalism, where a controlled, 40-hour week in factories was necessary. Our behavior is totally out of step with human priorities and today's economy.
recent paper argues that it's time for advanced developed countries transition to a normal 21-hour work week. This does not mean a mandatory work week or leisure-time police. People can choose to work as long, or short, as they please. That is, the day when 1,092 hours of paid work per year becomes the "standard that is generally expected by government, employers, trade unions, employees, and everyone else." The New Economics Foundation (NEF) says there is nothing natural or inevitable about what's considered a "normal" 40-hour work week today. In its wake, many people are caught in a vicious cycle of work and consumption. They live to work, work to earn, and earn to consume things. Missing from that equation is an important fact that researchers have discovered about most material consumption in wealthy societies: so much of the pleasure and satisfaction we gain from buying is temporary, ephemeral, and mostly just relative to those around us (who strive to consume still more, in a self-perpetuating spiral).
Surprising moves that gross out your coworkers The NEF argues we need to achieve truly happy lives, we need to challenge social norms and reset the industrial clock ticking in our heads. It sees the 21-hour week as integral to this for two reasons: it will redistribute paid work, offering the hope of a more equal society (right now too many are overworked, or underemployed). At the same time, it would give us all time for the things we value but rarely have time to do well such as care for our family, travel, read or continue learning (as opposed to feeding consumerism). Not to mention, it may be the only way a modern global society won't overwhelm the earth's resources. Creating EU-level living standards for the entire world by 2050 would require a six-fold increase in the size of the global economy, with potentially devastating consequences. Instead of growing the economy, maybe we need to recalibrate society to make everyone happier and successful with less. "The proposed shift towards 21 hours must be seen in terms of a broad, incremental transition to social, economic, and environmental sustainability," says the NEF in its report. The challenges are great, none more so than figuring out how to make most of society be able to live on half of their current income. And no doubt, many will seize on this as socialism or worse. Many will object to being told that 21 hours is normal, or 80 hours is too much. But consider what John Maynard Keynes, (whose theories underpin much of the global response to the financial crises), said in 1930 about the goal of future societies. Keynes thought that by the start of the 21st century, we would work only 15 to 21 hours a week, and we would instead focus on "how to use freedom from pressing economic cares." As NEF writes: "Keynes was wrong in his forecast, but not at all wrong, it seems to us, to envisage a very different way of using time." Photo: Thinkstock Michael Coren covers science, economics and the environment. He is the cofounder of the multimedia production studio + newsroom MajorPlanet Studios.
La Grange, Texas o 5 hours ago Congress is already on the 21 hour work week. They have been for years and they might as well be on a 10 hour work week because they do nothing.
John o 8 hours ago No one owes their soul to the company store. Work less, play more, retire as soon as you can, and live a full life. No man lying on his death bed ever wished that he had spent more time in the office than with family and friends.
Palm Harbor, Florida o 5 hours ago 21 hr work week is nothing more than a pipe dream in this economny. Find a way to get rid of corruption and then bring this argument back to the table.
Willy o 5 hours ago After 40 hours of work, a commute, an hour at the gym, 8 hours of sleep, leaves about 2-3 hours a night to spend time with my wife and child. Weekends are just another work day too, expect it is at home.
Atlanta, Georgia o 5 hours ago I could easily do my job in 5 hours a day rather than the 8 I am required to be at work. I see people socializing, taking longer lunches, running errands and playing online all the time, yet their jobs are always done. So basically by requiring people to work a certain amount of hours our time is being grossly wasted.
Austin, Texas o 3 hours ago I'm usually finished with all my work by lunch, but I have to stay until 5 It would be nice to just leave as soon as I was finished with my work.
Guy Smiley o 3 hours ago If you look at rainforest cultures, the guys go hunting for 3-4 hours during the day, come back, and spend the rest of the time with their family. The women do some chores, like prepare food, care for the kids, etc. The kids pitch in by caring for each other, joining in the hunts, helping to gather food, etc. Researchers following city-dwelling aboriginese back into the wilds in Australia were amazed at how lazy they were. They'd kick over a rock, eat some grubs, catch a little food, then spend most of the day laying about, enjoying themselves. And, it doesn't take a lot of work to really survive in a hunter-gatherer society. But, when you ramp that up to an agrarian society, where farms are needed to feed lots of people, or care-take animals, etc, you add to the work-load (working the land, caring for animals, etc). When you add in industry to create machines to create goods (textiles, etc), it adds even more overhead/work.
Colorado Springs, Colorado o 5 hours ago I'm currently working close to 60hrs a week as a skilled laborer, and by the time i get home i dont have the energy to enjoy my wife and daughter. Not to mention we STILL cant afford a house of our own and are barely making rent. something has to happen here, if you cut my hours my family and I would be under the bridge. Work me harder and you will find me in the dirt under a stone.
DCL o 4 hours ago Try writing meaning software on a 20 hour work week. I would favor politicians and government bureaucrats working less hours. That way they'd have less time to ruin our lives with excessive rules and regulations.
Jason o 5 hours ago Let's face it, many of us "put in" more than 40 hours a week. I could streamline my work and be done in 21 hours, but then I would look lazy to my boss. Best to stay late (not come in early, as the boss is not there to see me), ignore family needs, and dither for 20+ hours a week than to work hard and get fired. You don't get promotions for working hard, you get promotions for being there and kissing butts.
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