How the 40 hour work week turns you into the perfect consumer

[Feenix]

http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/your_lifestyle_has_already_been_designed/

The ultimate tool for corporations to sustain a culture of this sort is to develop the 40-hour workweek as the normal lifestyle. Under these working conditions people have to build a life in the evenings and on weekends. This arrangement makes us naturally more inclined to spend heavily on entertainment and conveniences because our free time is so scarce.

But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8 hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience, gratification, and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching television, and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of work.

All of America’s well-publicized problems, including obesity, depression, pollution and corruption are what it costs to create and sustain a trillion-dollar economy. For the economy to be “healthy”, America has to remain unhealthy. Healthy, happy people don’t feel like they need much they don’t already have, and that means they don’t buy a lot of junk, don’t need to be entertained as much, and they don’t end up watching a lot of commercials.

I think a lot of us realize this, but we can't break the cycle. How can you? You fill up your weekends with friends, family, food, and drink because you're always being told "life is too short" so you need to get up and get out and go go go and this costs money. The economy keeps turning, big companies keep making a profit, and you go from Friday evening to Monday morning in a heartbeat. Where did the weekend go and why are you still so tired?

I noticed this while in Indonesia. Even though I was on vacation and I had a month to travel, I felt like I needed to keep going all the time. Can't waste the vacation! Got to get to the next spot and spend more money on souvenirs and food! It felt like the "experience" of being in Indonesia needed to be bought.

What a crazy Western world we live in.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

What the cuss? Umm... Yeah...

 

[Mandon Knight]

It's a conditioning the world over, from top management down, to fit into a cog and never question one's place within the system.

I am now really fortunate that I am freelance in my film making, having worked years combining it with a 9-5 Mon-Fri existance in addition to it, effectively living two full time jobs to appease the 'office drone' side of my life with the creative side in order to keep a roof over my head.

That transistion has taken many years and a loads of hard work and that is the issue, people work exceptionally hard for very little, the rates of pay v standard of living v chances for career development are lessoning each and every year in many fields of work, people, (I can only indicate UK here, where I live) do a lot of unpaid additonal work in their jobs that is never seen, heard about or acknowledged, simply to keep afloat in their jobs beacuse of the demand of work load on the modern employee.

Leisure time as such amounts to one day off, effectively, once you take into account domestic life (I live on my own so it's all on me as it were), I suppose it comes down to your life set up, married, single, children etc.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

That's why I stick to 30 hours.

 

[Figs]

I'll be all for these companies paying us A LOT more money so we don't have to work 40 hours a week. Until then, good luck affording rent/mortgage/car bill and other debts on your own only working part time. Maybe i'm just used to living in CA most of my life where it's super expensive.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

The 40 hour work week... Wasn't that actually a key victory of the labor movement during the late 19th to early 20th century?

 

[Feenix]

I remember in one of my university classes, the professor asked how many of us go out at least one night on the weekend (go out implying movie, restaurant, pub, club, and so on) and almost the entire class put up their hands. She then asked how many of us could actually afford to go out every weekend.

Maybe 2 or 3 people put up their hands.

We were spending money that we didn't even have on wasteful things as broke students. Once we had full time jobs, that spending didn't reel itself in. It got worse.

 

[Feenix]

The 40 hour work week... Wasn't that actually a key victory of the labor movement during the late 19th to early 20th century?

Yup, because workers were working the 16 hour work week before.

But, it's not like we're more productive in 8 hours than we would be in 4. With computers and machines, we're able to work faster and more efficiently than previous work forces.

I'm not arguing that we reduce the number of hours we work in a day. I'm arguing against a society that clearly defines our "free" time in an effort to increase the amount of spending we do.

I admit the title of the thread is a little short sighted. It's not just the work week that impacts our consumerism, but our society as a whole that perpetuates the idea that we need to spend and acquire goods to be happy.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

To play devil's advocate, what's wrong with consumerism?

Is there a better use and treatment of the general population?

 

[Feenix]

To play devil's advocate, what's wrong with consumerism?

Is there a better use and treatment of the general population?

The way I look at it, consumerism leads to debt and a high stress life. I come from a German family and I was always taught that if you want something, save up for it and buy it outright. Here in North America, there are loan stores everywhere ready to hand you a high interest loan at the drop of a hat so you can buy a new car that you don't need.

I think it's more rampant consumerism that's a problem. But the issue that the US has right now is the people (and it's government) spend more money than they have. And they're not slowing down. Canadians are following in these footsteps as well. The average Canadian debt is $32,000. That's insane! And we don't make enough money to be able to afford houses and cars and pay down that debt.

And leading into something else here, our stress and anxiety (treated with medications) are making pharmaceutical companies rich. Our consumerism extends to pills and the easy way to cope.

 

[Feenix]

I think that consumption should be about the individual and the common good.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I think that consumption should be about the individual and the common good.

I'm having a hard time envisioning what that would be like.

Please give me some examples.

Also do you think it's possible to roll back heavy consumerism in the U.S.? We can't even protect net neutrality.

 

[jmc]

Work part time in a job to pay the bills, spend the rest of your time doing what you love, best advice I was ever given. If you can make money off your passions even better.

 

[Mr.M]

Resource are limited on the planet and we keep consuming. The haves require a near infinite amount of resources to sustain their lifestyle, while the have nots struggle to meet basic necessities. Even with stagnant population growth in developed, western regions of the world, you are still going to have that divide in this capitalistic society.

The only key is innovation. Empowering the individual to showcase their talents and come up with profitable and beneficial ideas that do not tax the planet's resources. We need to incentivize creativity and freedom by continuing to reduce taxes on the youth and start ups in this country. We need to not only reduce this burden, but allow this group to burgeon. Low cost, easy access education is the primary way. It started with smart phones. Now we are already in need of the next phase. We literally need a cloud that allows information to be transferred from one end of the planet to another. Something completely transparent where everyone has access to everyone and everything (moreso than now). Education and knowledge is obviously the most important tool in life and everything mankind craves, and it's the only way to promote innovation.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The way I look at it, consumerism leads to debt and a high stress life. I come from a German family and I was always taught that if you want something, save up for it and buy it outright. Here in North America, there are loan stores everywhere ready to hand you a high interest loan at the drop of a hat so you can buy a new car that you don't need.

I think it's more rampant consumerism that's a problem. But the issue that the US has right now is the people (and it's government) spend more money than they have. And they're not slowing down. Canadians are following in these footsteps as well. The average Canadian debt is $32,000. That's insane! And we don't make enough money to be able to afford houses and cars and pay down that debt.

And leading into something else here, our stress and anxiety (treated with medications) are making pharmaceutical companies rich. Our consumerism extends to pills and the easy way to cope.

I'm not against loans and debt providing the interest rate is reasonable.

I'm not certain things would be better if more people were denied credit cards and loans. I do however think consumers should be taught to keep regular payments to keep debt under control and to reserve loans for emergencies instead of luxuries.

For me personally, loans have bailed me out countless times. But I steadily pay them off. Credit cards are trickier but they can be useful if you make steady payments as you use them.

Having said that predatory lending is the devil and should be abolished.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Consumerisim and it's dangers will always be prevelant and in existance, regardless of how many hours are set.

Society and advertising are clawing away at our individual choices and thought processes. There has always been 'peer' pressure upon the young and teens to have the lastest 'fad' or piece of technology but pressure to 'must have' has extended to all areas of social life and in the way people and what they have or don't have as a social guide or moral berometer of worth to society even larger in contemporay social existence, it's horrible and I find it abhorant.

 

[terry78]

It's easy to say when you don't have kids and not living in poverty. Just being real about it. A white guy that's kinda upper middle class can afford to backpack through Europe and slack compared to someone else.

 

[Godzilla2000]

I wish I could work 40 hours a week.

 

[Destructus86]

I have always strongly been against an 8 hour workday. Not because of laziness...but because of just how consuming it is. We spend more time with co-workers than we do family. Many of us are over-worked and underpaid. But more importantly our time is taken from us.


I would GLADLY sacrifice Saturdays off to have 5 hour work days and Sunday off.

 

[Alex_Spider]

I have always strongly been against an 8 hour workday. Not because of laziness...but because of just how consuming it is. We spend more time with co-workers than we do family. Many of us are over-worked and underpaid. But more importantly our time is taken from us.


I would GLADLY sacrifice Saturdays off to have 5 hour work days and Sunday off.

Agreed.

 

[PyroChamber]

We spend more time with co-workers than we do family. Many of us are over-worked and underpaid. But more importantly our time is taken from us.

It's even worse if you're working a job you can't stand.

 

[KaineMorrison]

I have always strongly been against an 8 hour workday. Not because of laziness...but because of just how consuming it is. We spend more time with co-workers than we do family. Many of us are over-worked and underpaid. But more importantly our time is taken from us.


I would GLADLY sacrifice Saturdays off to have 5 hour work days and Sunday off.

If anything, I'd rather have 10 hour days, and have off Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

 

[KaineMorrison]

Work part time in a job to pay the bills, spend the rest of your time doing what you love, best advice I was ever given. If you can make money off your passions even better.

Don't know where you are, but most Part-Time jobs will never afford you the ability to cover Rent, let alone food, utilities, car payments, cell phone bill and Dr. Appointments.

 

[Destructus86]

If anything, I'd rather have 10 hour days, and have off Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

For a second I wanted to be like "Hell no!!!"
But thinking about it...I would be totally for it.

 

[PyroChamber]

Don't know where you are, but most Part-Time jobs will never afford you the ability to cover Rent, let alone food, utilities, car payments, cell phone bill and Dr. Appointments.

There are some full time jobs that can't even do that.