Workaholism, Leisure and Pleasure - Part II
The emotional leap was only a question of time. Historically,
people went to work because they had to. What they did after
work was designated as "pleasure". Now, both work and leisure
were pleasurable - or torturous - or both. Some people began to
enjoy their work so much that it fulfilled the functions
normally reserved to leisure time. They are the workaholics.
Others continued to hate work - but felt disorientated in the
new, leisure-like environment. They were not taught to deal with
too much free time, a lack of framework, no clear instructions
what to do, when, with whom and to what end.
Socialization processes and socialization agents (the State,
parents, educators, employers) were not geared - nor did they
regard it as their responsibility - to train the population to
cope with free time and with the baffling and dazzling variety
of options on offer.
We can classify economies and markets using the work-leisure
axis. Those that maintain the old distinction between (hated)
work and (liberating) leisure - are doomed to perish or, at
best, radically lag behind. This is because they will not have
developed a class of workaholics big enough to move the economy
ahead.
It takes workaholics to create, maintain and expand capitalism.
As opposed to common opinion, people, mostly, do not do business
because they are interested in money (the classic profit
motive). They do what they do because they like the Game of
Business, its twists and turns, the brainstorming, the battle of
brains, subjugating markets, the ups and downs, the excitement.
All this has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do
with psychology. True, money serves to measure success - but it
is an abstract meter, akin to monopoly money. It is proof
shrewdness, wit, foresight, stamina, and insight.
Workaholics identify business with pleasure. They are hedonistic
and narcissistic. They are entrepreneurial. They are the
managers and the businessmen and the scientists and the
journalists. They are the movers, the shakers, the pushers, the
energy.
Without workaholics, we would have ended up with "social"
economies, with strong disincentives to work. In these economies
of "collective ownership" people go to work because they have
to. Their main preoccupation is how to avoid it and to sabotage
the workplace. They harbour negative feelings. Slowly, they
wither and die (professionally) - because no one can live long
in hatred and deceit. Joy is an essential ingredient of survival.
And this is the true meaning of capitalism: the abolition of the
artificial distinction between work and leisure and the pursuit
of both with the same zeal and satisfaction. Above all, the
(increasing) liberty to do it whenever, wherever, with whomever
you choose.
Unless and until Homo East Europeansis changes his state of mind
- there will be no real transition. Because transition happens
in the human mind much before it takes form in reality. It is no
use to dictate, to legislate, to finance, to cajole, or to
bribe. It was Marx (a devout non-capitalist) who said: it is
consciousness that determines reality. How right was he. Witness
the prosperous USA and compare it to the miserable failure that
was communism.
>From an Interview I Granted
Question: In your article, Workaholism, Leisure and Pleasure,
you describe how the line between leisure and work has blurred
over time. What has allowed this to happen? What effect does
this blurring have on the struggle to achieve a work-life
balance?
Answer: The distinction between work and leisure times is a
novelty. Even 70 years ago, people still worked 16 hours a day
and, many of them, put in 7 days a week. More than 80% of the
world's population still live this way. To the majority of
people in the developing countries, work was and is life. They
would perceive the contrast between "work" and "life" to be both
artificial and perplexing. Sure, they dedicate time to their
families and communities. But there is little leisure left to
read, nurture one's hobbies, introspect, or attend classes.
Leisure time emerged as a social phenomenon in the twentieth
century and mainly in the industrialized, rich, countries.
Workaholism - the blurring of boundaries between leisure time
and time dedicated to work - is, therefore, simply harking back
to the recent past. It is the inevitable outcome of a confluence
of a few developments:
(1) Labour mobility increased. A farmer is attached to his land.
His means of production are fixed. His markets are largely
local. An industrial worker is attached to his factory. His
means of production are fixed. Workers in the services or, more
so, in the knowledge industries are attached only to their
laptops. They are much more itinerant. They render their
services to a host of geographically distributed "employers" in
a variety of ways.
(2) The advent of the information and knowledge revolutions
lessened the worker's dependence on a "brick and mortar"
workplace and a "flesh and blood" employer. Cyberspace replaces
real space and temporary or contractual work are preferred to
tenure and corporate "loyalty".
Knowledge is not geography-dependent. It is portable and cheaply
reproduced. The geographical locations of the participants in
the economic interactions of this new age are transparent and
immaterial.
(3) The mobility of goods and data (voice, visual, textual and
other) increased exponentially. The twin revolutions of
transportation and telecommunications reduced the world to a
global village. Phenomena like commuting to work and
globe-straddling multinationals were first made possible. The
car, the airplane, facsimile messages, electronic mail, other
forms of digital data, the Internet - demolished many physical
and temporal barriers. Workers today often collaborate in
virtual offices across continents and time zones. Flextime and
work from home replaced commuting. The very concepts of
"workplace" and "work" were rendered fluid, if not obsolete.
(4) The dissolution of the classic workplace is part of a larger
and all-pervasive disintegration of other social structures,
such as the nuclear family. Thus, while the choice of
work-related venues and pursuits increased - the number of
social alternatives to work declined.
The extended and nuclear family was denuded of most of its
traditional functions. Most communities are tenuous and in
constant flux. Work is the only refuge from an incoherent,
fractious, and dysfunctional world. Society is anomic and work
has become a route of escapism.
(5) The ideology of individualism is increasingly presented as a
private case of capitalism and liberalism. People are encouraged
to feel and behave as distinct, autonomous units. The metaphor
of individuals as islands substituted for the perception of
humans as cells in an organism. Malignant individualism replaced
communitarianism. Pathological narcissism replaced self-love and
empathy.
(6) The last few decades witnessed unprecedented successive
rises in productivity and an expansion of world trade. New
management techniques, improved production technologies,
innovative inventory control methods, automatization,
robotization, plant modernization, telecommunications (which
facilitates more efficient transfers of information), even new
design concepts - all helped bring workaholism about by placing
economic values in the forefront. The Protestant work ethic ran
amok. Instead of working in order to live - people began living
in order to work.
Workaholics are rewarded with faster promotion and higher
income. Workaholism is often - mistakenly - identified with
entrepreneurship, ambition, and efficiency. Yet, really it is
merely an addiction.
The absurd is that workaholism is a direct result of the culture
of leisure.
As workers are made redundant by technology-driven productivity
gains - they are encouraged to engage in leisure activities.
Leisure substitutes for work. The historical demarcation between
work and leisure is lost. Both are commended for their
contribution to the economy. Work, like leisure, is less and
less structured and rigid. Both work and leisure are often
pursued from home and are often experienced as pleasurable.
The territorial separation between "work-place" and "home turf"
is essentially eliminated.
Some people enjoy their work so much that it fulfils the
functions normally reserved to leisure time. They are the
workaholics. Others continue to hate work - but feel
disorientated in the new leisure-rich environment. They are not
taught to deal with too much free and unstructured time, with a
lack of clearly delineated framework, without clear instructions
as to what to do, when, with whom, and to what end.
The state, parents, educators, employers - all failed to train
the population to cope with free time and with choice. Both
types - the workaholic and the "normal" person baffled by too
much leisure - end up sacrificing their leisure time to their
work-related activities.
Alas, it takes workaholics to create, maintain and expand
capitalism. People don't work or conduct business only because
they are after the money. They enjoy their work or their
business. They find pleasure in it. And this is the true meaning
of capitalism: the abolition of the artificial distinction
between work and leisure and the pursuit of both with the same
zeal and satisfaction. Above all, the (increasing) liberty to do
so whenever, wherever, with whomever you choose.