I th ink Tom Walker and Eugene Coyle will find this of interest, not because they will agree with all of it, but that it is always interesting when someone comes to a similar conclusion to oneself from a very different perspective.
http://www.raptitude.com/2010/07/your-lifestyle-has-already-been-designed/ I think the author is ignoring the history of the 40 hour week - how it was not "designed" but fought for. Still if you substitute 'point at which capitalists resistance to worker demand for short work week rose sharply" for "designed" I think this article does make a good point. A work week much below 40 hours gives workers too much energy and too much freedom - too well rested to be good little consumers. Because enough free time and people start socializing with one another in ways that may reduce demand for consumer goods. Also more free time risk people becoming more informed and creates a better environment for activism. And it is not just more time but more energy. Can't track in down, but I remember Tom Walker wrote a few years back on how ~40 hours is the sweet spot on the curve for capitalists. Not that capitalists have not pushed back that gain so many work far more than 40 hours. But I think both this and Walkers article of a few years back makes the point that reduction of work time significantly below 40 hours is a fundamental change from the 40 hour week, not just more of the same. Maybe we can think of it as a step function. The change from sweatshop conditions to getting significant time off is one radical step. The reduction down to a 40 hour week is a second radical step. Reduction to say a 30 hour week would be another radical step. Each step is radical in the sense that they change life qualitatively not just quantitatively have serious implications for the power of working people vs. capitalists. Of course working hours reflect that balance of power, but they also affect it. The article I've linked above is ahistorical and deeply flawed. And yet, the link between a too-long work week and much of the pain in our society is so worth emphasizing that I think it is worth reading, flaws and all. -- Facebook: Gar Lipow Twitter: GarLipow Solving the Climate Crisis web page: SolvingTheClimateCrisis.com Grist Blog: http://grist.org/author/gar-lipow/ Online technical reference: http://www.nohairshirts.com
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