The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline Of Leisure

How much leisure time do you have? Think carefully. If you're like most Americans, the answer will be very little. Counting paid employment as well as necessary tasks at home, most people spend upward of 55 hours a week working. Because they still do most of the housework and childcare, women often work 70, 80 or even 90 hours a week. Why is this when technology should be making our lives more leisurely? Juliet Schor points out several reasons, the main one being that Americans have let themselves be convinced that they need a bigger house, a newer car and a large-screen TV; of course, then we need more money to pay for them, which means more work. We are caught in a work-spend cycle like rats on a treadwheel. There is a way out, but it will require a big change in two fundamentally American ethics: work and consumption. Indulging in leisure does not make a person lazy; it has been shown repeatedly that when people work less, their work is more productive. So why are we neglecting our families and killing ourselves? I, for one, am taking a vacation...next year. ~ -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by FGP--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.