[OT] Plato's Pub and Philosophical Society

[Chronon]

I think the trend towards more work is a very complex one. Certainly the materialistic/economic/status ambitions of some Americans (I don't want to generalize about Europe, because the culture is different) is a contributing factor. But I also think there are some fundamental economic changes going on that perpetuate this trend.

Back in the days of Father works, Mom stays home with the kids, and everyone lives comfortably in a one-family house (or at least this was the ideal anyway), the mainstay of the economy was large-scale manufacturing (steel, automobiles, capital equipment, etc.). The American economy produced over 40% of the Gross World Product because the rest of the world (Europe especially) was still recovering from WWII. Most American factories were running at close to maximum production in this time period. The unions were strong, CEO's only made about 12-15 times what the average worker made, housing and education was cheap, and the amount of stuff necessary for "comfort" was less. A small three bedroom house, one car, a single TV (or not, depending on the decade), a radio, a stove, a refrigerator, and simple furnishings were all that were necessary.

Now we have a global economy where the US contribution to GWP is about half of what it was (percentage wise), mostly because the rest of the industrialized world has fully recovered from WWII and caught up economically. Manufacturing has moved to the developing world, and the information economy is the driving force of the mature economies in Europe, Japan, and North America. Education (in the US) is no longer cheap, the unions are dying (mostly because the manufacting economy is dying), the average CEO is making over 40 times what the average worker is making (more at Enron and Worldcom...), and the amount of stuff that one needs for "comfort" is much greater. Now we need a large four-bedroom house, a mini-van and an SUV, about 4 TV's with cable programming, at least one computer, a modern kitchen (with stove, refrigerator, microwave, mixer, and dishwashing machine), a rack of home theater audio equipment (receiver, dvd player, vcr, and surround speakers), a snow-blower for the winter, a tractor-mower for the grass in the summer, plus a wide range of small appliances (Palm Pilot, cell phone, laptop, kitchen gadgets, etc.). It's no wonder that everyone is working longer hours.

And, for those not connected to the global economy, there are always minimum wage jobs at McDonalds. One has to work ridiculous hours just to get above the poverty level at minimum wage, and those are the jobs that are expanding the quickest.

So, I think the French have a good idea, but the real test is going to be how many people can be connected to the global economy (which requires a high leve of education), and how many people are going to be shunted into service jobs. If the current trend of separation between the upper classes (economically speaking) and the working classes continues, we're in for a lot more social unrest. Revolutions are made out of these kind of social disparities...