Stepping outside the circle: the ecological promise of shorter working hours

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe post-work thinkers of the twenty-first century represent a valuable if often neglected critical resource. These authors imagined a social alternative in which work would no longer be a main source of income, social rights and belonging. In their putative post-work future, modern advancements in production technologies, combined with a more equal social distribution of working time, would allow everybody to enjoy more free time and lead more autonomous, less work-centred lives. This article examines the significance of post-work thought to ecological debates, suggesting that shorter working hours could form a key component of a less commodity intensive mode of social development. The article also suggests that shorter working hours could be crucial for allowing people to develop more sustainable practices and, in the process, discover new and more sublime pleasures, of the kind that can only be experienced with a wealth of free time.