this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2024
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The idea came from a British guy called Robert Owen in the 19th century. It was a huge step forward in workers rights seeing as it was fairly normal for factories to work from sunrise to sunset to try and maximise their output.
Typical working hours were 10-18 hrs a day 6 to 7 days a week
I'm not saying I love working 8hrs a day and modern society can definitely do better but this was a positive step forward in history and should be celebrated... celebrated isn't quite the right word but I hope you get what I mean
Yeah, anyone calling the creator of the 40-hour work week "Satan" is obviously ignorant of the history of labour.
As you said, we can definitely do better, but at the time it was (quite literally) revolutionary.
Yup, we need to get 6 hour 4 days a week now, so people in 2100 can call us satanic for wasting so many hours working.
Appreciated for what it was at the time. I get you.
Reminded me of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk_XylEmLo
It is more made to debunk the idea that capitalism has given humanity more leisure time. But relevant here too because makes the case that historically people worked even less than the 'typical' week we have today.
It makes me wonder if the reason we mostly feel like working 40+ hours is too much is because people really don't seem to have worked that much until the industrial age.
I really liked that video. I'm always cautious of stuff like this, which can easily become a fallacious appeal to history, but I think this video effectively avoids that territory. Like, it's useful to consider how things used to be different and how things became this way, without presenting the former as a solution for the latter.
100% agreed - there is a lot of garbage on youtube and it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
150 years ago some guy made advances in workers rights, and the best way we can honor him and that accomplishment is by never making another advance in workers rights! /s
I know that isn't your point, and I agree we shouldn't demonize him without bothering to know the context, but I couldn't help thinking this as a response.
Yeah, the tone of this thread is, "everyone needs to be more grateful."
The cruelty of the 19th century does not cancel out the cruelty of the 21st century.
I absolutely agree we should show gratitude, and I think the best way of showing gratitude is saying "this is no longer enough"