Work and Leisure

Work and leisure: themes and issues 215system therefore faces an empirical question: what balance of work and leisuremaximises consumption and hence profits?Consumer culture: ‘work and spend’Schor (1991, 2000) sees no end to Americans’ capacity to desire – and workfor – material goods, and hence no prospect of a more leisured society. WhileClarke and Critcher (1985) prescribed socialist measures to counter thepower of the market – and possibly to produce a more leisured society –Schor (2000) calls for a ‘new politics of consumption’ – a sort of nonmaterialistconsumer movement Such a call is seen as politically naive by anumber of commentators contributing to the volume edited by Cohen andRogers (2000) and would seem to fly in the face of the basic driving mechanismof the capitalist system. Even if most people might ultimately be capableof reaching a level of material satisfaction in absolute terms – and hencemight be in a position to embrace the idea of more leisure rather than workingfor more material wealth – this seems elusive while significant social andeconomic inequalities remain, with a wealthy elite parading the pleasures ofever-increasing material prosperity. Capitalism is driven by the principle ofhigh material rewards as incentives for those who take risks and can offersought-after, marketable skills. Efforts by those lower down the scale toachieve greater equality seem to be continually matched by the efforts ofthose at the top to stay ahead.As Fred Hirsch pointed out in 1977, many of the goods and services whichpeople seek as they become more affluent are positional goods – such as thehouse in a sought-after location or a place in a top school or university. Whilesuch a scenario might suggest a striving after non-material goals, it alsosuggests a competitive drive for resources to achieve those goals. In the 1970s,the ‘catching up’ process was compared with a ‘marching column’ andtermed the ‘Principle of Stratified Diffusion’ by Young and Willmott (1973).This was seen as a relatively benign phenomenon, by which those furtherback in the ‘column’ eventually enjoyed the same goods and services as thoseat the front. But if the head of the column keeps moving indefinitely, a moreleisured society will remain for ever out of reach. One part of society constantlytrying to catch up, while the other part is constantly trying to stayahead, hardly seems to be a recipe for a leisured existence. The ‘catching up’syndrome is of course extolled in various mass media, in advertising andeditorial content, but is also reinforced by unions and professional groupswho frequently use comparators with other groups, rather than absolutemeasures of income, to support claims for pay increases on the grounds thatthey are ‘falling behind’, such claims being laced with anxiety-inducingexpressions of concern about loss of status and unfair treatment. This processis then replicated internationally by the efforts of countries at the top ofthe international income league table to stay there and of those lower down to