NEW STATESMAN
Book Reviews - Weeping in a Rolls-Royce

Book Reviews
Christopher Gasson Monday 28th May 2001

Blood, Sweat and Tears: the evolution of work
Richard Donkin Texere, 400pp, £18.99
ISBN 1587990768

It is difficult not to feel a sense of betrayal about technological progress.
We have invented machines to do work for us, but the more ingenious our
inventions, the harder we find ourselves working. We have exchanged 40 hours of
slavery in a soot-covered factory for a 70-hour week chained within the
granite-faced confines of the giants of the new global service economy. The
average American now works one month a year longer than he or she did in the
1960s. Britons, similarly, seem to be increasingly choosing work over leisure.

As Richard Donkin makes clear in his broad history of work, Blood, Sweat and
Tears, we have only ourselves to blame for so readily giving up our lives to
our employers. It is a combination of our desires always staying one step ahead
of our ability to afford them, our psychological need to define ourselves by
our work, and an immutable work ethic, that continues to drive us long after
the religion that spawned it ceased to be relevant.

Full text:
http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/200105280050.htm



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