Philosopher, logician, mathematician and author BETRAND RUSSELL makes an early contribution to the work-life balance literature in the essay ‘In Praise of Idleness’, published in the October 1932 issue of Harper’s. It is a biting criticism of our tendency to exalt work and denigrate leisure. The work-for-its-own-sake ethos, says Russell, leads to incoherent thinking and to the squandering of time, energy and finances. We glorify, for example, the labour that goes into the production of a film, and declare the viewing of it to be frivolous. We would rather see savings invested in doomed business ventures, or lent to governments that would spend them on military campaigns or on grandiose but useless infrastructure, than see them spent on a lavish party. ‘Altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relative to other such matter’, the author says wryly, and ‘telling other people to do so’ both constitute a tragic waste of human potential. Work of any sort is worthwhile only insofar as it makes idleness possible, Russell submits. For most of recorded history, idleness has been a luxury which only aristocrats could enjoy — undeservedly, because it requires the toil of others. In fact, aristocratic propaganda is largely responsible for our confusion about the morality of work. Nevertheless, that unearned aristocratic privilege happens to be the source of most of what humanity calls ‘civilisation’ — art, theatre, literature, philosophy, science. In the modern era, our productive potential is such that every human can be fed, clothed and sheltered, with ever increasing cost-efficiency. Back-breaking toil and retrograde institutions — and the ideological contortions necessary to justify them — have been rendered obsolete by scientific and technological advances. Yet, because of the persistent equivalence of work and duty, the best we have come up with is pointlessly amassing manufacturing surpluses, and having some people overworked and others involuntarily idle. A more sensible and equitable way to organise our economic affairs, Russell’s proposal goes, would involve a drastic reduction in the average number of working hours. That would give us all a chance to earn our keep, and leave us with sufficient energy to exploit our new-found leisure time in edifying ways. With idleness a universal rather than an exclusive entitlement, human civilisation could be put on a more humane course.
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