Of course, many of us cannot afford the time and money to live this way, and to think intentionally about all the choices we are making. Who has time to sort through the recycling, organize a union (or a revolution) and grow and make all your own food and clothing when you are struggling to get by in the hustle culture of the economy in which many of us find ourselves? Capitalism and industrialization have ripped us from the natural cycles and spaces that were once inextricably linked. Many of us cannot afford not to work 40 hours in exhausting, unsatisfying jobs, which leave very little time to spend making food and art, minding the land, or socializing. We must advocate for systems in which people have time to tend to the slow, mindful, non-extractive ways of being and consuming, and allow us to be in our families, communities, and tribes.
How is it that in a time where so much industry is automated by computers, and more women and people overall are joining the workforce, that we all still need to work 40+ hours per week just to make ends meet? This is largely caused by corporations sequestering wealth, making the lower classes dependent on whatever wages they can secure, and removing collective bargaining power. Privileged people in the 1% have created a system that takes away autonomy from the masses and makes them so desperate to survive and so separated from their group that people are not able to identify or articulate what exactly is wrong, and makes it impossible to have time, energy, or communities strong enough to know how to or have the ability to make a change.
The workweek is reminiscent of a manipulative and obsolete system in the wake of industrialization. Historically, the global cultural mindset has been changing to one where work is next to godliness. Your worth and identity now comes from work rather than religion, community, and personal identity. Even though most of what needs to be done is achieved with fewer work hours, we have placed ourselves in a cage of our own design with the shift in mindset by valuing “bullshit jobs” and undervaluing essential workers and caregivers.
Studies have shown that nations and companies that implement even a 32-hour workweek show greater productivity, profit, worker morale, and work-life balance. Others show that even office workers that are employed full-time only do focused/productive work for ~3 hours a day, and that humans are physically and mentally incapable of being “productive” for 8 hours. Yet, everything that needs to get done does- no industries have yet collapsed because office workers are scrolling on Facebook at work- in fact, it is true that nations have gotten more productive. Why can we not instead engage in deep work and better systems and work planning that allow the other 5 hours of the day to go towards living sustainable mindful lives- the most important thing for our economic, societal, and individual future? We need to change the ideas around what productivity, yield, and profit mean by incorporating the health of people, communities, and the environment in cost-benefit analyses. Flexible work, and less work even has the potential to further elevate women’s autonomy, close the gender gap, and promote equality. Of course, we have already learned about the ecological impact of gender equality, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are already seeing a promising shift in accepted work mentalities.