Critique of work

"Abolition of work" redirects here. For the essay, see The Abolition of Work.
Since 1870 the amount of hours of waged work have decreased and GDP per capita has increased.

Critique of work or critique of labour is the critique of, and/or wish to abolish, work as such, and to critique what the critics of works deem wage slavery.[1][2][3]

Critique of work can be existential, and focus on how labour can be and/or feel meaningless, and stands in the way for self-realisation.[1][4][3] But the critique of work can also highlight how excessive work may cause harm to nature, the productivity of society, and/or society itself.[5][6][7] The critique of work can also take on a more utilitarian character, in which work simply stands in the way for human happiness as well as health.[8][2][1][9]

  1. ^ a b c Lafargue, Paul (2018). The right to be lazy : and other studies. Franklin Classics Trade Press. ISBN 978-0-344-05949-0. OCLC 1107666777.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Frayne, David (2011). Critical Social Theory and the Will to Happiness: A Study of Anti-Work Subjectivities. School of Social Sciences Cardiff University. p. 177. Thinkers such as André Gorz, Bertrand Russell, Herbert Marcuse, and even Marx, in his later writings, have argued for the expansion of a realm of freedom beyond the necessities of labour, in which individuals have more liberty to transcend biological and economic imperatives and be 'free for the world and its culture'
  4. ^ "Meningslösheten breder ut sig". flamman.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  5. ^ Patrick, Ruth (2012-03-30). "Work as the primary 'duty' of the responsible citizen: a critique of this work-centric approach". People, Place and Policy Online. 6 (1): 5–15. doi:10.3351/ppp.0006.0001.0002.
  6. ^ Weeks, Kathi (2011). The Problem with Work Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries. Duke University Press. p. 153. [...]it was the successes of the proletarian struggle for shorter hours that provoked capital to mechanize production[...]
  7. ^ Nässén, Jonas (2012-03-30). "Would shorter working time reduce greenhouse gas emissions? An analysis of time use and consumption in Swedish households". Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy. 33 (4): 726–745. doi:10.1068/c12239. S2CID 153675794.
  8. ^ "Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs". The Guardian. 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2022-03-11. Unsurprisingly, work is increasingly regarded as bad for your health: "Stress … an overwhelming 'to-do' list … [and] long hours sitting at a desk," the Cass Business School professor Peter Fleming notes in his new book, The Death of Homo Economicus, are beginning to be seen by medical authorities as akin to smoking.
  9. ^ Frayne, David (2011). Critical Social Theory and the Will to Happiness: A Study of Anti-Work Subjectivities. School of Social Sciences Cardiff University. p. 177. Gorz, for example, pointed to the irrationality of a society that strives for full-employment in spite of having developed the technological means to conquer scarcity.