Work and Leisure

    Henri Lefebvre examines cultural and historical understandings of leisure in his essay “Work and Leisure in Everyday Life”. Lefebvre describes the, primarily western, concepts of work, the structure of everyday life, and ideas of leisure. He writes about the historic movement from viewing work as integral part of identity, whether it was domestic work or production work, to the creation of Bourgeoise Society and emerging ideas of leisure activity. Lefebvre details how leisure became a concept of “work” that was viewed as something outside of everyday life, or the real world, and was something the individual embarked upon of their own volition. In capitalist society, leisure became an imperative, something that gave people a “break”, to indulge in a kind of acceptable laziness. To Lefebvre, leisure is just a different kind of work, since all activities are a form of engaging with material, his example of somebody watching a movie is, no matter how passive they may seem, engaging with the screen. 

I liked Lefebvre’s inspection of cultural relations to work. I think that it is important to consider what our preconceptions of Everyday Life are, or should be, and how we view work. The Western Capitalist ideas of work, rest, work, rest can be very unhealthy and destructive to the individuals operating within those societies. By scrutinizing the historical groundwork that has led us to our current cultural conceptions on work, can help us work towards a healthier attitude.