Modern times, ancient hours : working lives in the twenty-first century / Pietro Basso ; edited and translated by Giacomo Donis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Basso, Pietro, 1945-

Standardized Title:

Tempi moderni, orari antichi. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Quality of work life--Social aspects--Developed countries.

Quality of work life.

Hours of labor--Social aspects--Developed countries.

Hours of labor.

Quality of work life--Developed countries.

Hours of labor--Developed countries.

Hours of labor--Social aspects.

Social aspects.

Developed countries.

Physical Description:

275 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

Updated and expanded edition.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Verso, 2003.

Summary:

It is a commonly expressed view that the sickness of our society is unemployment. Less frequently argued is the fact that this same society is suffering from overwork. And less frequently still that in our capitalist market society the two sicknesses, unemployment and overwork, feed off one another and jointly attack the working classes of the world. Pietro Basso's thesis is that the average working time of wage labourers is now more intense, fast-paced, "flexible" and longer than at any time in recent history. This is true, he argues, not only in industry and agriculture, but also, and particularly, in "services". It is also increasingly true for all Western countries and not just the USA. The introduction of the thirty-five-hour working week in France notwithstanding, all the signs of a creeping deterioration in the working lives of millions of people are evident: a reduction in the purchasing power of wages, the mass downsizing of corporations, the continual erosion of company and state-ensured benefits, and the availability of much cheaper labour from Latin America, Asia, Africa and eastern Europe. Modern Times, Ancient Hours combines a theoretical explanation of the causes of this "paradoxical" evolution of working hours with an impressively broad range of empirical documentation, making the book a highly significant and timely contribution to the study of the way in which most people's working lives are now lived. The book also reminds us that the human aspiration to do work that does not break the body or the spirit is universal and deep-rooted. Workers will rise, Basso argues, if they continue to be pushed beyond their limits.

Contents:

1 The Question of Working Hours 10

2 Long-term Trends 1945-89 26

Keynes's Prophecy

The Harsh Response of History

The Situation in the United States and Japan

The Situation in Europe

The Lengthening and Restructuring of Hours, after the Crisis of 1974-75

Technical Progress, Profit, Working Time

3 The Confirmation of the 1990s 57

The Diffusion of Toyotaism

The Diffusion of Variable Hours

The Diffusion of Shiftwork

The Diffusion of Neoliberal Policies

(Official) Hours and Labour Productivity

4 A Reply to Some Objections 92

The Numbers, Today and Yesterday

The Driving Force of the Reduction of Hours

Contradictions in the Calculation of Working Time

A Return to the Nineteenth Century?

The Presumed Disneyland of 'Services'

The Presumed Difference of Europe

The Presumed Cure-all of Part-time Work

Quantity and Quality

Appendix A Second European Survey on Working Conditions 140

Appendix B Vietnam: 24-hour Continuous Shifts 147

5 Towards the 35- or the 45-hour Week? 150

The German Case

The French Case

The Italian Case

6 Modern Times, Ancient Hours: An Enigma? 183

I. Theses of Neoliberalism 183

II. First Elements of a Critical Analysis 192

Social Labour, Private Appropriation

Capitalism, Production for Profit

Profit, Unpaid Working Time

The Capitalist Use of Science and Technology

The Paradox of Labour Productivity

Globalization and Working Hours.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-264) and index.

Translated from the Italian.

ISBN:

1859845657

OCLC:

51991495