NEGATIVE - CRITIQUE - CRITIQUE OF WORK 323

IMPACT: WORK DEGRADES ALL SOCIAL RELATIONS

WORK PSYCHOLOGY DESTROYS NON-WORK SOCIAL RELATIONS

L. Susan Brown, Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, 1993; Does Work Really Work? Kick It Over #35 // acs

We must increase the amount of free work in our lives by doing what we want, alone and with others, whether high art or mundane maintenance. We need to tear ourselves away from drinking in strict exchange terms: I will do this for you if you will do that for me. Even outside our formal work hours, the philosophy of contract and exchange permeates our ways of interacting with others. This is evident when we do a favour for someone -- more often than not, people feel uncomfortable unless they can return the favour in some way, give tit for tat. We must resist this sense of having to exchange favours. Instead, we need to be and act in ways that affirm our own desires and inclinations. This does not mean being lazy or slothful (although at times we may need to be so), but rather calls for self-discipline. Free work actually demands a great deal of self-discipline, as there is no external force making us work, but only our own internal desire to partake in an activity that motivates our participation.

WORK DESTROYS FAMILIES AND CREATES ILLNESS

Leisure Party, 1999; Beyond the Work Ethic

http://freespace.virgin.net/sarah.peter.nelson/menu3a.html // acs

In a recent survey by the charity Parents at Work in Britain, which not only works the longest hours in Europe but also has the highest divorce rate, 70 per cent of employees said that work keeps them from their loved ones and almost 80 per cent said pressures at work have led to illness. More than 70 per cent said they wanted to change their work hours, and 10 per cent said they were considering giving up their jobs.

WORK CREATES FOR US FALSE IDENTITIES, AND RISE IN TEMP WORK MAKES IT WORSE

L. Susan Brown, Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, 1993; Does Work Really Work? Kick It Over #35 // acs

And destroy it we must. If one's identity is based on work, and work is based on the employment contract, and the employment contract is a falsehood, then our very identities have at their foundation a lie. In addition, the labour market is moving towards an ever-increasing exploitative form of work: it is predicted that by the year 2000, fifty percent of the labour force will be engaged in temp work -- work which is even less selfdirected than permanent full-time jobs.