From Artisan to Courtesan: The Rationalization of Labor and Leisure

Abstract

<p>This thesis examines the changing character of work expression and the extent to which the organization of productive life activity either facilitates or hinders a unified expression of man through work. It focuses on the reorganization of industrial production, the incorporation of craft into rationalized systems of production, and discusses the ramifications of the reordered work process for the human subject of labor. It views the attempts by social scientists to habituate and routinize the content and quality of work and worker behavior.</p> <p>However, as labor ceased to provide the vehicle for the utilization of man's creative faculties and abilities, leisure time expanded and seemed to hold out the promise of a reintegration of creative outlets into one's life. Craft was to reappear as hobby craft. However, hobby craft while claiming to be a viable alternative to alienated labor, mirrored in fact, the workings of the industrial apparatus from which it was derived. Social scientists again aided industry, this time in habituating consumer buying behavior for the products innovated by industry and in promoting an image of leisure alternatives which attempted to obfuscate the industrial connections between the leisure products and the quality of leisure.</p> <p>Leisure, rather than constituting an alternative to labor serves to reinforce the patterns of habit and work behaviors which are required in industry. The leisure consumer is sold an image. The image bears little resemblance to reality.</p>