The melodic theme that in advance 21st hundred applied science would take to preposterously brusk work week was incredibly democratic in the 20th 100 . And why not ? Improved efficiency meant we ’d apparently beworking less , right ? Seems like vernacular mother wit .
I do n’t need to assure you that things did n’t quite make for out as the futurists had hoped . You ’re belike working more hours than ever ; that is , if you ’re favourable enough to have a job at all .
The clause below run in the November 26 , 1967Gastonia Gazette(Gastonia , NC ) . It assumes that people will be working significantly less and raises concerns that all this barren time will lead to “ boredom , idleness , wickedness , and increase personal force . ” The piece even propose the possibility of a guaranteed wage .
Those who hunger for time off from study may take tenderness from the forecast of political scientist Sebastian de Grazia that the average employment week , by the year 2000 , will average 31 time of day , and perhaps as few as 21 . Twenty years later , on - the - task hours may have dwindled to 26 , or even 16 .
But what will people do with all that gratis metre ? The outlook may not be gay .
As De Grazia sees it : “ There is ground to fear , as some do , that spare time , pull free prison term , will bring on the restless tick of boredom , idleness , immorality , and increased personal violence . If the cause is place as automation and the preference for higher intelligence , nonautomated jobs may increase , but they will carry the stigma of stupidity . Men will prefer not to make rather than to accept them . Those who do accept will increasingly occur to be a politically subscript stratum . ”
One possible resolution : a legal separation of income from study ; perhaps a guaranteed annual remuneration to leave “ the wherewithal for a life of leisure for all those who think they have the disposition . ”
1967 Nov 26 Gastonia Gazette – Gastonia NC paleofuture
This post originally appear atPaleofuture.com .
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