Work

Lars Fredrik Svendsen, Lars Svendsen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138194083
• eBook ISBN: 9781317272755
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." - Bertrand Russell

Work is one of the most universal features of human life; virtually everybody spends some part of their life at work. It is often associated with tedium and boredom, in conflict with the things we would otherwise love to do. The idea of work primarily as a burden was also shared by the philosophers in ancient Greece, who generally regarded work as a curse. And yet research shows that it prolongs life and is generally good for people's physical and mental health. Why is this? What is the meaning of work? To what extent does it determine our social identity? Should we expect to find work fulfilling?

In this book, Lars Svendsen explores these questions and more. He argues that we need to complete this reorientation of our feelings about work and collapse the differences between leisure and work. Work is always with us. But to overcome the sense of being burnt out, we must think of work as not only productive but recreative – in other words, a lot more like leisure.

Revised and updated in light of the global financial crisis, this second edition also includes a new chapter on work and globalization.

Index

Adelman, K. 94

affluence 111–25

Alcidamas 102

alienation 36–43, 89

Allen, W. 155

Amasis 75

Aquinas 22

Arendt, H. 51–2, 146

Aristotle 9, 17–21, 29, 43, 56–9, 90, 151

Augustine 21

Augustine, N. 94

autonomy 17, 48, 87–8

Baron, D. 94

Baudrillard, J. 122

Bauman, Z. 122–4, 158

Behravesh, N. 133

Benedict 21

Bentham, J. 91, 149

boredom 34–5, 54, 78, 148, 153–4

Boyle, R. 6

Brodsky, J. 154

Bronson, P. 149

Bruckner, P. 153

Burton, A. K. 71–2

Calvin, J. 23–4, 28, 54

Camus, A. 33

capitalism 23, 37, 42–3, 67, 88, 107, 113–14, 140

Carlyle, T. 26–7, 151

Chaplin, C. 85–6, 91

Chesterton, G. K. 79–80

Christo and Jeanne-Claude 62

communism 43, 89, 107, 114

consumption 11, 24, 106, 112–13, 119–25

Coward, N. 79

Cowen, T. 144

craftsmanship 17–18, 20–1, 37, 41, 47–9, 84

Csíkszentmihályi, M. 50

delayed gratification 29, 113–14

Dilenschneider, R. 94

division of labour 37–9, 47...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface to the second edition
• Introduction
• One From curse to vocation: a brief history of the philosophy of work
• Two Work and meaning
• Three The distribution of work
• Four Work and leisure
• Five Being managed
• Six Getting paid
• Seven Work in an age of affluence
• Eight Work and globalization
• Nine The end of work?
• Ten Life and work
• Further reading
• References
• Index