This is a well-trodden topic, but this was an interesting and new theory for me
This is a well-trodden topic, but this was an interesting and new theory for me
In the 1970 book The Harried Leisure Class, the Swedish economist Staffan Burenstam Linder wrote that as a society gets richer, leisure time takes on the frantic quality of work. As rich people feel like their downtime is scarce—as each non-working hour practically shouts, “excuse me! you could be making money, right now!” —the experience of leisure time speeds up. We multitask and pack various downtime activities into short periods. Firing up a Netflix show at 9pm that you can half-ignore while you answer email is a perfect activity for people who need their leisure time to feel like half-productive box-checking. Taking several hours to coordinate with other busy people to set up a lengthy dinner party is a tougher sell for the harried leisure class.
I feel I experience this with my evenings, I do not think it has anything to do with the amount of money I have. I think it is close to what they say though. My day is full of family and work...
As rich people feel like their downtime is scarce—as each non-working hour practically shouts, “excuse me! you could be making money, right now!” —the experience of leisure time speeds up. We multitask and pack various downtime activities into short periods. Firing up a Netflix show at 9pm that you can half-ignore while you answer email is a perfect activity for people who need their leisure time to feel like half-productive box-checking.
I feel I experience this with my evenings, I do not think it has anything to do with the amount of money I have. I think it is close to what they say though. My day is full of family and work responsibilities therefore I want to make the most out of my evenings because I know it is straight to more work when I wake up.
I do plan lots of group events though.
Taking several hours to coordinate with other busy people to set up a lengthy dinner party is a tougher sell for the harried leisure class.
I feel like this applies to middle class and lower but not upper middle class and higher.
I do not know for Sweden but in America the middle to upper class had black live in help two generations ago. Many peoples’ parents grew up with this help. Therefore having multiple parties was easy because the planners, typically the woman, only had to do the thinking, none of the physical work. It is hard to have the culture continue to exist without relying on taking advantage of African American women with bad pay.
If a generation is 20-30 years, it's closer to three or four generations ago for anyone other than the very well off. The middle class in the USA didn't have live in help with any regulariy after...
If a generation is 20-30 years, it's closer to three or four generations ago for anyone other than the very well off. The middle class in the USA didn't have live in help with any regulariy after WWII. Even the fairly wealthy might have a day maid in the 1960s, but not permanent live-in staff.
I hear your point but that is not my experience in the South for my grandparents generation. Both of their respective towns had help for most upper middle class families. This is mid-60s onwards...
If a generation is 20-30 years, it's closer to three or four generations ago for anyone other than the very well off. The middle class in the USA didn't have live in help with any regulariy after WWII. Even the fairly wealthy might have a day maid in the 1960s, but not permanent live-in staff.
I hear your point but that is not my experience in the South for my grandparents generation. Both of their respective towns had help for most upper middle class families. This is mid-60s onwards until maybe the 80s or so.
This is not some rich thing. It is paying African America women a low wage of around 15$ because they systematically could not get better jobs in those areas.
Fair enough. My experience is with the West Coast, and the culture and built environment was quite a bit different there. Most places were never built with the expectation of live-in servants, and...
Fair enough. My experience is with the West Coast, and the culture and built environment was quite a bit different there. Most places were never built with the expectation of live-in servants, and that in turn meant that there rarely were. There also wasn't the ongoing cultural expectation of slavesservants in the same way as the South.
Yes, I think the causal relationship is different for me. I think if you like to maximize what you do at work, you want to maximize what you do outside of it. The fact that the "maximizer"...
I feel I experience this with my evenings, I do not think it has anything to do with the amount of money I have. I think it is close to what they say though.
Yes, I think the causal relationship is different for me. I think if you like to maximize what you do at work, you want to maximize what you do outside of it. The fact that the "maximizer" personality might correlate to a positive economic outcome is a bit of a coincidence.
The only way I could see myself not maximizing my time is if I had truly meaningful control over my workload. But I'd need enough financial and job security to feel okay exerting such control over my workload (e.g., I can work less when I want to because it won't hurt my comfort levels when I'm older).
Yea, we all tired and broke, and like spending time with our kids so they don't turn out to be sociopaths who complain about having to accommodate menopausal women in the workplace when they grow up.
Yea, we all tired and broke, and like spending time with our kids so they don't turn out to be sociopaths who complain about having to accommodate menopausal women in the workplace when they grow up.
This is a well-trodden topic, but this was an interesting and new theory for me
I feel I experience this with my evenings, I do not think it has anything to do with the amount of money I have. I think it is close to what they say though. My day is full of family and work responsibilities therefore I want to make the most out of my evenings because I know it is straight to more work when I wake up.
I do plan lots of group events though.
I feel like this applies to middle class and lower but not upper middle class and higher.
I do not know for Sweden but in America the middle to upper class had black live in help two generations ago. Many peoples’ parents grew up with this help. Therefore having multiple parties was easy because the planners, typically the woman, only had to do the thinking, none of the physical work. It is hard to have the culture continue to exist without relying on taking advantage of African American women with bad pay.
If a generation is 20-30 years, it's closer to three or four generations ago for anyone other than the very well off. The middle class in the USA didn't have live in help with any regulariy after WWII. Even the fairly wealthy might have a day maid in the 1960s, but not permanent live-in staff.
I hear your point but that is not my experience in the South for my grandparents generation. Both of their respective towns had help for most upper middle class families. This is mid-60s onwards until maybe the 80s or so.
This is not some rich thing. It is paying African America women a low wage of around 15$ because they systematically could not get better jobs in those areas.
Fair enough. My experience is with the West Coast, and the culture and built environment was quite a bit different there. Most places were never built with the expectation of live-in servants, and that in turn meant that there rarely were. There also wasn't the ongoing cultural expectation of
slavesservants in the same way as the South.That makes more sense then!
Yes, I think the causal relationship is different for me. I think if you like to maximize what you do at work, you want to maximize what you do outside of it. The fact that the "maximizer" personality might correlate to a positive economic outcome is a bit of a coincidence.
The only way I could see myself not maximizing my time is if I had truly meaningful control over my workload. But I'd need enough financial and job security to feel okay exerting such control over my workload (e.g., I can work less when I want to because it won't hurt my comfort levels when I'm older).
Yea, we all tired and broke, and like spending time with our kids so they don't turn out to be sociopaths who complain about having to accommodate menopausal women in the workplace when they grow up.