Summary
The amount
of leisure time for the average middle-class worker was preconceived to
increase with the introduction of technologies that made work more efficient.
Chapter 17 of Woodhouse describes how while technologies and activities related
to leisure have become more abundant and integrated into daily life, the number
of hours spent on leisure have significantly decreased. Woodhouse argues the
innovations that made work and chores more efficient have resulted in higher
expectations for workers, and a cultural focus on speed of production and
constant improvement has led to longer hours. Longer hours, in turn, lead to
sleep deprivation, fewer hours spent with family, and unhealthy stress levels.
For further evidence of the shift, Woodhouse presents the leisure time of the
working class of the late Middle Ages: in England, “about a third of the year;
Spanish holidays amounted to about 5 months; and the French did even better in
being guaranteed Sundays off all together with 90 other rest days and 38 holidays-
180 days in all!" (230).
Analysis & Synthesis
The long
working hours incorporated into American living are the result of legacy
thinking from the industrial revolution, where innovation pushed for more stuff
faster. Innovations like the assembly line and transportation that allowed 9-5
shifts pulling everyone in and out of the growing cities provided. Now the
American economy continues to thrive on this exhausting efficiency, and stuck
within legacy thinking, Americans are pushed to work holidays, overnight,
provide 24 hour business hours, told they have to be available 24/7"
(229), and strive to climb the corporate ladder. The crisis this provides is
"a form of relative deprivation… leisure time is steadily shrinking
relative to the opportunities to 'spend' it" (228).
I would
argue this is a crisis because of what that leisure time consists of. Time with
family not only provides fun and a deeper connection between family members but
allows children to learn valuable knowledge, skills, traditions, and abilities
of their working parents. This shapes them as a citizen and an innovator,
provides a wider view of their world and makes them generally more capable.
Other leisurely activities like going to the movies, reading, listening to
music, making music, doing puzzles, exercising, going on vacation do the same
for workers. They provide creative, statistical, physical, emotional, and
rational insight into the world, oneself, and problem solving. Deep involvement
and use of these types of activities have shown to fuel genius; all famous
intellectual or creative mind has something other than what they are known for
that they loved and spent much of their leisure time doing (Frank Lloyd Wright,
for example, was an avid botanist and kept a greenhouse where he knew the latin
names of every plant). Other activities like seeing friends, sleeping, and
exercising provide the emotional and physical upkeep needed to sustain healthy
brain and bodily function. Without that, humans can’t even make it to the
office.
In staying
at the office longer to gain an hour or two more of production, innovators and
producers are losing so much more. Organizational models such as the Montessori
schools accept this need for leisure and its benefits and have shown extremely
positive results. The owners of Google were Montessori students and modeled
their business after the Montessori system, and I doubt anyone could say Google
is unproductive or inefficient. It doesn’t need to be a jump that far, but
emphasis needs to be put on the value of leisure as a crucial and beneficial
part of production and innovation. When America makes that shift and finds that
careful balance of work time and leisure time, not only will it be the best
producer, but its people will love to produce.
