Workaholism, Leisure and Pleasure - Part II

Written by Sam Vaknin


The emotional leap was only a question of time. Historically, people went to work because they had to. What they did after work was designated as "pleasure". Now, both work and leisure were pleasurable - or torturous - or both. Some people began to enjoy their work so much that it fulfilledrepparttar functions normally reserved to leisure time. They arerepparttar 132316 workaholics. Others continued to hate work - but felt disorientated inrepparttar 132317 new, leisure-like environment. They were not taught to deal with too much free time, a lack of framework, no clear instructions what to do, when, with whom and to what end.

Socialization processes and socialization agents (the State, parents, educators, employers) were not geared - nor did they regard it as their responsibility - to trainrepparttar 132318 population to cope with free time and withrepparttar 132319 baffling and dazzling variety of options on offer.

We can classify economies and markets usingrepparttar 132320 work-leisure axis. Those that maintainrepparttar 132321 old distinction between (hated) work and (liberating) leisure - are doomed to perish or, at best, radically lag behind. This is because they will not have developed a class of workaholics big enough to moverepparttar 132322 economy ahead.

It takes workaholics to create, maintain and expand capitalism. As opposed to common opinion, people, mostly, do not do business because they are interested in money (the classic profit motive). They do what they do because they likerepparttar 132323 Game of Business, its twists and turns,repparttar 132324 brainstorming,repparttar 132325 battle of brains, subjugating markets,repparttar 132326 ups and downs,repparttar 132327 excitement. All this has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with psychology. True, money serves to measure success - but it is an abstract meter, akin to monopoly money. It is proof shrewdness, wit, foresight, stamina, and insight.

Workaholics identify business with pleasure. They are hedonistic and narcissistic. They are entrepreneurial. They arerepparttar 132328 managers andrepparttar 132329 businessmen andrepparttar 132330 scientists andrepparttar 132331 journalists. They arerepparttar 132332 movers,repparttar 132333 shakers,repparttar 132334 pushers,repparttar 132335 energy.

Without workaholics, we would have ended up with "social" economies, with strong disincentives to work. In these economies of "collective ownership" people go to work because they have to. Their main preoccupation is how to avoid it and to sabotagerepparttar 132336 workplace. They harbour negative feelings. Slowly, they wither and die (professionally) - because no one can live long in hatred and deceit. Joy is an essential ingredient of survival.

And this isrepparttar 132337 true meaning of capitalism:repparttar 132338 abolition ofrepparttar 132339 artificial distinction between work and leisure andrepparttar 132340 pursuit of both withrepparttar 132341 same zeal and satisfaction. Above all,repparttar 132342 (increasing) liberty to do it whenever, wherever, with whomever you choose.

Unless and until Homo East Europeansis changes his state of mind - there will be no real transition. Because transition happens inrepparttar 132343 human mind much before it takes form in reality. It is no use to dictate, to legislate, to finance, to cajole, or to bribe. It was Marx (a devout non-capitalist) who said: it is consciousness that determines reality. How right was he. Witnessrepparttar 132344 prosperous USA and compare it torepparttar 132345 miserable failure that was communism.

From an Interview I Granted

Question: In your article, Workaholism, Leisure and Pleasure, you describe howrepparttar 132346 line between leisure and work has blurred over time. What has allowed this to happen? What effect does this blurring have onrepparttar 132347 struggle to achieve a work-life balance?

Answer: The distinction between work and leisure times is a novelty. Even 70 years ago, people still worked 16 hours a day and, many of them, put in 7 days a week. More than 80% ofrepparttar 132348 world's population still live this way. Torepparttar 132349 majority of people inrepparttar 132350 developing countries, work was and is life. They would perceiverepparttar 132351 contrast between "work" and "life" to be both artificial and perplexing. Sure, they dedicate time to their families and communities. But there is little leisure left to read, nurture one's hobbies, introspect, or attend classes.

Leisure time emerged as a social phenomenon inrepparttar 132352 twentieth century and mainly inrepparttar 132353 industrialized, rich, countries.

Workaholism -repparttar 132354 blurring of boundaries between leisure time and time dedicated to work - is, therefore, simply harking back torepparttar 132355 recent past. It isrepparttar 132356 inevitable outcome of a confluence of a few developments:

(1) Labour mobility increased. A farmer is attached to his land. His means of production are fixed. His markets are largely local. An industrial worker is attached to his factory. His means of production are fixed. Workers inrepparttar 132357 services or, more so, inrepparttar 132358 knowledge industries are attached only to their laptops. They are much more itinerant. They render their services to a host of geographically distributed "employers" in a variety of ways.

A Culture Of Life

Written by The Independent Voice


I have a question forrepparttar pro-lifers: if you truly believe that there is no distinction between someone that shoots and kills another human being and an impregnated mother who decides to abort a fetus, then why don't you do something about it? If your child or your neighbor's child was being attacked by a madman that was going to kill, wouldn't you defend that child? Why do you talk about abortion like it is murder and expressrepparttar 132313 belief that nothing separates it from a violent homicidal attack by adults, and yet a majority of you stand by and do nothing?

I have a question forrepparttar 132314 pro-choicers: if you truly believe that abortion comes about because of unwanted pregnancies, what have you done to prevent them? At what point do you think abortion is murder? If you believe that life doesn't begin at conception, where does it begin? Don't you understand that just because you terminate a fetus early doesn't mean thatrepparttar 132315 fetus would not have developed into a life as we know it? If you do have a life that is capable of reaching independence inside you, why do you think that it is "just" your body, after all, no one would live very long without help from others?

Wouldn'trepparttar 132316 both of you agree that we need to promote a "culture of life"? But what does that mean?

I respectfully askrepparttar 132317 Pro-lifers to put themselves inrepparttar 132318 positions of people that are faced with these hard decisions. Think aboutrepparttar 132319 possible circumstances in which your strongly held beliefs might change. Think about a situation where you are a married man and your wife is raped by someone that is HIV infected, or a crack fiend. Do you abort then? O.K. maybe that's an improbable example, but what do you do if your child is impregnated by another family member? Again that's another rare scenario, but these things do happen. Here's one that isn't as rare as you think: your married and your partner becomes pregnant. "Great", you think because that was your goal. The doctor then informs you that if your wife continues withrepparttar 132320 pregnancy she could become severely ill or die. What do you do?

Or a more probable situation is one where 2 teenagers go to a party and get drunk, have sex andrepparttar 132321 girl becomes impregnated because they didn't use protection or used it improperly. The girl can't talk to her parents about it andrepparttar 132322 guy is nowhere to be found. She has plans for college and didn't plan on getting pregnant until after graduation, no less by a guy who was just in it forrepparttar 132323 sex. What would you do?

Does a "culture of life" acceptrepparttar 132324 reality that these things go on allrepparttar 132325 time, and offer real solutions, including birth control, sexual education, and expedited adoption, to combat abortion? To take it a step further, would you be willing to adopt an "unwanted" child, educate children about sex and financially support those that cannot provide for themselves? What should berepparttar 132326 government's responsibility if they tell citizens that all unwanted pregnancies legally cannot be aborted?

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