It's about how for some jobs, an eight-hour workday is unnecessary - there's three hours of work to do, and eight hours of desk time required - but it's part of the capitalist system that has to make our free time scarce so we'll spend more money on conveniences, things that represent the vision we have for ourselves, and so on.
Presentee-ism and the eight hour workday seem to be mostly about keeping us so tired out by our long "work" days that we can't evaluate our lives and make changes where we wish we could. Because that would bring down our wasteful economy.
And this is strikingly reminiscent of the impossible "beauty" standards for women, and increasingly for other people as well. If we are spending our limited time and resources on worrying about our failure to reach unattainable standards, how can we have any energy left to work on injustice and inequality, and towards self-acceptance and happiness? So insidious.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2013-10-22 10:22 pm (UTC)It's about how for some jobs, an eight-hour workday is unnecessary - there's three hours of work to do, and eight hours of desk time required - but it's part of the capitalist system that has to make our free time scarce so we'll spend more money on conveniences, things that represent the vision we have for ourselves, and so on.
Presentee-ism and the eight hour workday seem to be mostly about keeping us so tired out by our long "work" days that we can't evaluate our lives and make changes where we wish we could. Because that would bring down our wasteful economy.
And this is strikingly reminiscent of the impossible "beauty" standards for women, and increasingly for other people as well. If we are spending our limited time and resources on worrying about our failure to reach unattainable standards, how can we have any energy left to work on injustice and inequality, and towards self-acceptance and happiness? So insidious.