Modern Times, Ancient Hours: Working Lives in the Twenty-first Century (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Modern Times, Ancient Hours: Working Lives in the Twenty-first Century John L. Revitte Modern Times, Ancient Hours: Working Lives in the Twenty-first Century. By Pietro Basso. (Translated and edited by Giacomo Donis.) New York, NY: Verso, 2003. 275 pp. $ 27.00 hardcover. This text provides somewhat less than it promises, but it is worth reading for those interested in recent trends regarding how long and hard workers toil in advanced economies. The author's main thesis is that average working hours of laborers have become "increasingly burdensome and invasive—more intense, fast-paced, 'flexible' and long" during the past twenty-five years. And he argues that these trends hold true not only in manufacturing in the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe, but also in agriculture and service industries. Basso anticipates that few will dispute his assertions regarding intensification of work. But he believes the general consensus regarding the length of the working day is in dispute, especially in light of the 35-hour week in parts of Germany and France. That discussion becomes one of his primary concerns. Basso reviews socio-economic literature on the question of working hours and discusses why he feels many are incorrect to follow the prophecies from Keynes to Samuelson regarding the steady march across the centuries to higher productivity and shorter work hours. He details why he feels that most estimates of working hours are among the least reliable statistics, and then presents numerous charts of statistical data from varied sources to prove his points. Basso believes Juliet Schor's work is more reliable and frequently references it. [End Page 127] One chapter reviews the trends from 1945-89, and focuses on how the "crisis of 1974-5" led to an increase in the length and flexibility of working hours. In looking at the U.S. and Japan during that period, he describes how the Taylorist system was pushed to the extreme by "Toyota-ism," and then reviews the situation in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and France. Basso concludes that, contrary to most commentators' expectations regarding developed countries, "it is a fact that greater development of labour productivity means less reduction of working hours in industry." Basso believes there are a variety of reasons for the increase in working hours following 1975. He mentions increased measures taken against absenteeism, increased overtime, pressures limiting union strength, shortening of breaks, growth of underground economies, and increased use of migrants. He also discusses how working hours have become more flexible through increased reliance on night and weekend work and the lengthening of standard shifts. Another chapter describes how in the 1990s these trends were consolidated globally via the diffusion of the Toyota system, flexible and variable hours, and "neoliberal policies towards the labour market." In this discussion, Basso provides short but useful case studies regarding a variety of manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Europe. He also addresses objections to his conclusions about the correct calculation of working time, historic trends regarding work day length, and the impact of "the organized struggle of the industrial proletariat" to reduce working time and of "the counterthrust of capital aimed at keeping it intact, or even making it longer." But the author's underlying explanation for the growing trend towards the "lengthening, intensification and variability of the working time of wage labour" falls back to rather traditional Marxist theory. Basso quotes frequently from Capital and argues, for example, that the trend toward a "comprehensive worsening of working and living conditions for the mass of working people—the tendency to institute 'ancient' hours in modern times—is inherent in mature capitalism and in its cultural and political institutions." It is not clear how most labor educators or union leaders would benefit from reviewing this text. Worker educators could incorporate some insights in non-credit classes on globalization and labor's future, and in credit classes, it could be useful with economics and sociology undergraduates. It is helpful in pulling together examples and commentary on working conditions in manufacturing operations and in comparing trends [End Page 128] of work intensification in the U.S., Japan and several European countries. While this text delivers less than the...