Work and Leisure

Chapter 3Postmodern work and leisureChris RojekIntroductionThe classical political economy of Ricardo, Bentham and J. S. Mill presentedpaid employment as the primary means through which the individualdevelops the self, morally and economically, and contributes to the wealthand well-being of the commons. Leisure was acknowledged to be thenecessary complement to work since, in the voluntary chosen activities ofnon-work time, individuals replenish themselves and freely develop their facultiesand interests. Nonetheless, classical political economy seldom departedfrom the postulate that the a priori of leisure is paid employment.Interestingly, emancipatory politics in the nineteenth and for most of thetwentieth centuries typically confirmed this position. Karl Marx has someclaim to be regarded as the foremost critic of the work ethic in the nineteenthcentury. His analysis emphasised the forced nature of work, the usurpation ofvalue by the capitalist, the alienation and self-estrangement of the work process,and the need to rethink the relationship between work and society fromtop to bottom. Nevertheless, he was always blistering about his utopiandisciples who mistook communism for the end of work. In Marx’s view,capitalism condemned workers to exploitation and brutalisation. He heldthat the solution to this state of affairs was the determination of the lengthsand ends of the work by the ‘socialized, associated producers, through thetranscendence of capitalism’ (Marx 1977: 820). He famously distinguishedbetween the realm of necessity and the realm of freedom. He argued thatunder communism the individual participates in multi-activity, which is voluntarilychosen and socially enriching. Underpinning this activity, however, isthe requirement to produce socially and economically necessary work. Therelevant passage in Capital submits:The realm of freedom actually begins only where labour which is determinedby necessity and mundane considerations ceases; thus in the verynature of things it lies beyond the sphere of actual material production.Just as the savage must wrestle with Nature to satisfy his wants, to