Keyword: WORK | The purpose of work

In his book “Work: A History of How We Spent Our Time”, James Suzman starts by defining what work is. He goes back and forth, discussing different angles, and comes to the conclusion that “work” is every activity living beings (humans, animals, plants, and fungi) do, for which they need energy. This means that, under this definition, what some people consider “leisure” is actually “work” (in fact, the same activity can be considered “leisure” by some and “work” by others).

According to James Suzman, the concept of “leisure” was born when humans learned how to master fire and they found time to spare between hunting and recollecting food. Instead of “doing nothing”, they dedicated themselves to painting, building tools, and creating accessories (like necklaces). This means that, just like other animals, plants, and fungi, humans have the compulsory need to be engaged in some kind of activity. Once the energy intake is secure, imagination is the limit of what one could do.

As imagination evolved, so did the number of activities and their complexity. After figuring out how to plant and master crops, everything changed. Humans were now able to store “energy” to consume later, which gave them even more time without being worried about hunting and recollecting. They began to plan yearly: there was a time to sow, a time to let crops grow (controlling pests and the like), and a time to harvest. Then, during winter, as humans didn’t hibernate, they were “free” to do what they liked. Usually that meant making big constructions (like Stonehenge, for example). For these purposes, communities were needed and societies were developed. Hierarchies and specializations were ever more consolidated. Besides, as the agricultural fields were being exhausted, people had to move to other lands. Thus, migration commenced.

Fast-forward to our highly complex and globalized society, in which people move around all the time, we can see where imagination and “free time” has led humanity. People still work to sustain themselves and their families (that haven’t changed) and they still use their free time to do other things they find more interesting (that haven’t changed either). What is changing is the purpose, the meaning of work.

At some point during the Industrial Revolution, workers fought for the idea of having 8 hours per day of work, 8 hours of free time (to have fun and spend time with the family), and 8 hours of rest (mainly to sleep). It was also believed that the 8 hours of free time was the most important of them all. Hence, the hobbies, the focus on the family, the holidays and day outs. People would work to make money to meet the needs of survival, and their compensation was to have fun in their free time.

Now, people are realizing that work is actually more important, that it builds their sense of self. So, it needs to have meaning to themselves and to the community. People relate to work more than it was expected during the Industrial Revolution and having fun after hours is just not enough. Besides, people are working increasingly more hours. The 8-8-8 balance is getting lost (if ever was a reality). As a result, the separation between work life and personal life is also getting lost. In truth, this separation only made sense during the Industrial Revolution, when people went to work in the factories and then went back to “their own life”. With the rise of “flexible working hours” and “working from home” it feels like we are going back in time, when people were developing agriculture and their own life was intertwined with the work they did.

As we can read in James Suzman’s book, developing agriculture throughout thousands of years was hard work filled with much frustration. Farmers would probably have felt they had enough of it many times over during the course of their lifetime. When the Industrial Revolution came, moving to the cities to work in the factories was like a promise of a better life. After all, they wouldn’t depend on climate to have their earnings; they would have a salary at the end of the week or the month. However, this type of work brought with it a number of new problems, and workers had to deal with them in new ways: hence Unions and social fights that are part of history.

Nowadays we have burnouts, stressful objectives to be met, toxic working environments, fierce competition, long hours of work… We are also witnessing the emergence of new ways of work, like: the 4-day work week, remote work, hybrid work. We have an enormous variety of different jobs and the possibility to change jobs. Specializations are not the end of the line. If we think back, before the Industrial Revolution, farmers’ children didn’t have much choice. And whoever started a trade would hardly switch to another trade. Today, there are infinite possibilities (or so it seems).

The future is unforeseeable, although many experts are busy trying to predict it. However, one thing seems to be certain: people need to work, whatever may that turn out to be.