The Problem of Leisure

Over a decade of writing and thinking about modern work and its opportunity costs, I have generally mentioned the “problem of leisure” only in passing, largely because I would like to believe that it is soluble. Yet the political situation in the United States (and some other industrialised democracies) demands a reckoning, and it cannot be understood without reference to misspent leisure. Not only have working hours steadily declined over time, but most work (all those “non-essential” functions) can no longer be expected to confer the same sense of meaning as it once did. Gallup finds that “employees in the U.S. continued to feel more detached from their employers, with less clear expectations, lower levels of satisfaction with their organisation, and less connection to its mission or purpose”.

Such trends place an even greater burden on leisure to satisfy all those needs and longings that make us human, rather than merely “trousered apes”. Yet it is no secret what most people are doing with their free time. Addictive, sensationalist, forgettable entertainment and media have encroached on almost every province of 21st-century life – including at the office and on the worksite. Inevitably, many streams have tapped into the quintessential modern predicament: the continued longing for wonder, awe, grace, glory, or encounters with the sublime even after all has been disenchanted.