Eight Days a Week - The Fourth Wave - the Dual Active-recreational Society, The Fourth Wave

8/8/2019 Eight Days a Week - The Fourth Wave - the Dual Active-recreational Society, The Fourth Wave

1/14

Eight Days A Week Author: Geert Callens

165

systems 152 . They could use their talents for other purposes. With the money theworld spends on defense on one day, one could establish an effective programagainst the expansion of the deserts. The expenditures of ten days wouldsuffice to supply all slumps in the Third World cities with drinking water,sewerage and sanitary. Half a day would be enough to restore the tropicalwoods, to fight erosion, to save vital water supplies and to purify severely

polluted underground water layers. Where else should one look for thefunding?

Interview with the French agronomist Ren Dumont in Knack , September 6 th

1989.

Well... we might even allow for some little inflation in the industrialized countries, as aninvestment!

And who would have to supervise the design and implementation of such a plan? Asdiscussed by B. Fuller in Critical Path and The Group of Lisbon in their report Limits toCompetition , big business and big banking have become supra-national, while the politicaldecision making is still done in the old-fashioned way by several hundred local pseudo-democratic and even totalitarian governments. Indeed, in order to implement an economydesigned to satisfy the real needs of humanity it is time to install a world parliament andgovernment based on real democracy, with real decision-making power and no veto-right for some privileged countries.

8.4 The dual active-recreational society: the fourth wave

Daniel Bell, who used the term for the first time, saw the post-industrialsociety as a knowledge based society. This term is useful to describe whatcould be a third area in economic history. After the agricultural era, withland as most important means of production, came the industrial era, withhuman labor as most important source of economic activity, an era that Marxlabeled the era of added value. We now live in a time in which knowledge isthe most important means of production. This view has the merit that it givesthe post-industrial society a historical dimension, which is not far from theequivalent of the end of history 153, as it is difficult for us to imagine what a

fourth era of human society might be.Daniel Cohen, Globalization and its adversaries , p. 60.

A few critical remarks on this view:

The description of economic eras that we have given at the beginning of this book seems more appropriate than the one of Mr. Cohen. In the agricultural era human

152 The USA is complaining of their trade deficit with Japan. In Japan they make consumer products and

investment goods in demand all over the world, while the USA has concentrated its efforts on the perfection of disinvestment goods nobody needs any longer. So whos to blame? Or are they doing once more an effort tocreate new markets for these disinvestment goods?

153 Like in Francis Fukuyamas The End Of History.


2/14


166

labor was very important, even more important than during the industrial era withits energy driven machines.

Concerning the end of history, let us try to look further than our economic noseis long, and focus on man as man, and not as as means of production or as

consumer. And it is really not that difficult for us to imagine what a fourth era of human society might be: we will propose a fourth era in human civilization, the beginning of a totally New World Order, but then an order which is advantageousto all of mankind, and not only the ones who assign themselves the Fifth andSixth Freedom.

I can accept that most people will find it difficult to yield part of their wealth or purchasing power toward the Third World countries or low-wage countries. But this process is alreadygoing on anyhow: a lot of industrial companies and service companies like call-centers andsoftware development have moved to lower-wage countries, where now a middle class is

developing, while most of the western countries are faced with a too low level of activity inorder to guarantee the pensions and social security system for the post World War II baby- boom generation that is now massively retiring. But according to my humble opinionsomething can be done about this. And the proposed solution is very agreeable to us all: we

just give the people more time to consume, especially in the recreational area, while at thesame time we increase the economic growth and the profit-ratio of the companies.

We will have time to reach the Millennium Development Goals worldwideand in most, or even all, individual countries but only if we break withbusiness as usual .

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan.

Impossible to break with business as usual? Just proceed with reading!

8.4.1 He had a dream, that one day.

Modern Times


3/14


167

At the end of the 19 th century, in most countries common people, men and women alike,had to work six days a week, with 12 to 14 working-hours per day, even children had to work.Only the Sunday was reserved for Our Lord. The majority of the population was consideredas mere production factors, and thus a cost. The laborers did not have the time nor the moneyto consume the things they were producing themselves. This can be read in the novels of Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo, and also in the book The Right to be Idle , written by PaulLafargue in 1880.

In this small book, which he wrote as a reaction to the Marxist slogan Right for Labor (1848),Paul Lafargue argued that too much labor and not enough consumers leads to overproduction,as the poor bourgeoisie very well had the purchasing power, but their needs were alreadyamply fulfilled, so there was no or little increase in consumption. The laborers, on the other hand, were in no position to absorb the excessive production, so economic crises andunemployment were inevitable. According to Paul Lafargue right for labor without rightfor consumption was the cause of economic crises and unemployment.

A disastrous dogma

A strange madness has captured the laboring class in the capitalistic countries.This madness has brought along enormous individual and social sufferingduring the last two centuries. This madness I speak of is the love for labor, thefurious passion to work, even till the exhaustion of vitality of the individualand his descendants...

Deceived by the false theories of economists, the proletarians have surrenderedtheir body and soul to the curse of labor, and, in doing so, they have led societyinto an industrial crisis of overproduction. Because there is excess of supply of goods and shortage of people able to buy, factories and mills are closed andlaborers suffer from hunger and cold. The proletarians, drugged by the dogmaof labor and not knowing that their excessive labor in times of so-called

prosperity is the cause of the crisis and their own misery, they should run to thegranary and shout: We are hungry, we want food. Although we have nomoney and are beggars now, it is we who have harvested the grain and selectedthe grapes.

They should attack the warehouses of monsieur Bonnet in Jujurieux, theinventor of the industrial convents 154 and yell at him: Monsieur Bonnet,here are your clear-starchers, your silk-throwsters, your spinners, your weavers. They shiver in their patched cotton clothes, although they have madethe silk clothes that you have sold to the whores of Christianity. The poor girlsworked thirteen hours a day so they had no time to dress up. Now they areunemployed and have the time, but they cannot afford the silk clothes theyhave made for others. As soon as they had lost their milk-teeth, they havededicated their lives to your fortune, while living in poverty themselves 155.

P. Lafargue, The Right to be Idle , pp. 65-66.

154 Textile mills, where women and children had to work in miserable conditions.155 See the film The Corporation , in which the situation of female laborers and children in third world

countries, working for Western multinationals, is described.


4/14


168

As the increasing use of machines destroyed jobs for laborers on a large scale, the proletariatconsidered these machines as their enemy: laborers threw their lumps (in French: sabot) intothe spinning machines and the weaving-looms in order to sabotage them. Paul Lafargue, onthe other hand, favored the use of new technology, machinery and automation in as many

processes in agriculture and industrial production as possible. This would indeed decrease theneed for human labor and destroy jobs. But his thesis was that mankind was not destined tolive to work alone, but to work just enough to have a comfortable life and have some time leftfor other, more pleasant activities 156 . He advocated a substantial use of machinery in order toincrease productivity, but also combined with a decrease of working hours per day and a fair distribution of the material wealth towards the laborers that would be the result of theeconomic growth. So one could say that already in 1880 Paul Lafargue had a visionary dreamthat one day people would have to work only 8 hours per day and that they would have 2days off during the weekend, and that this would lead to more material welfare for all, eventhe bourgeoisie, the capitalists and the industrialists.

At the end of the 19 th century the world was not yet ready for his Rerum Novarum ideas.

Marxists, socialists, economists, industrialists and politicians all rejected his visionary ideas,each for their own narrow-minded reasons. Paul Lafargue, who was the son in law of KarlMarx, committed suicide 157 in 1911 together with his wife Laura Marx, disillusioned as theywere with the state of world affairs in their time. They lived through a period of socialstruggle and turmoil, while they knew that another world was possible, to the advantage of allof mankind. Then followed a period with violent revolutions in some countries like Russia,The Great War, the Great Depression, and finally the Second World War. After that, a newarea in history finally arrived in most industrialized countries, with the general right to voteand organized labor unions, a workweek of 5 days and 8 working hours per day, whichresulted in an unprecedented economic growth in these industrialized countries. Paul Lafarguenever got the credits for it.

8.4.2 A complicated problem

For the majority of the world-population the division of the week now consists of 5 working-days of 8 hours plus, for many of them, 2 extra hours for commuting from and to the working-

place. And then there are the 2 weekend-days.

156 All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.157 Other people who said they had a dream, that one day are usually shot or crucified: Christ,

Mahatma Ghandi, Malcom X, King, , bishop Romero


5/14


169

Day 1 till 5 Day 6 till 7

Population Active

(panem)

Off

(circencem)

This arrangement has some disadvantages on several domains.

Mobility

In many countries you can see every morning and evening of a working day the structuraltraffic jams of people commuting in their private cars in and around the big agglomerationswhere work is concentrated. Also public transport is overloaded and people are literallysqueezed into the wagons of trains and metro-cars and in busses. To avoid that in the near future we will all stand still in our cars or suffocate in the train-wagons or busses, heavyinvestments are needed in the sectors of public transport and the construction of new roads. Insome countries highways are constructed on a dual level or under the ground. Some countriesinvest heavily in fast trains. Both measures need rather expensive investments. Due to the

present world-wide economic situation most governments do not have the budgetary capacityto take adequate measures. In some countries they barely succeed in maintaining the presentinfrastructure. Higher taxes have a negative influence on private consumption, and thus on theeconomic growth. During the rush-hours the mobility infrastructure is overloaded, but for therest of the day it is used to a much lower degree. Part of the trains and busses is then not usedat all. Therefore further investments seem to be foolish.

From Friday-evening on you can see then the migration to the holiday-resorts and weekend-houses in the countryside, on the coastlines or in the mountains. Roads are again overloadedwith people leaving the cities for the weekend. This problem of mobility causes a lot of dailystress for most of the people during working-days as well as during the weekend. It lowers thequality of life and has a very negative influence on the productivity of the transport of goodsand the economy as a whole. It is a waste of time and money for private persons and

professionals alike. And cars in a traffic-jam pollute more than cars that can drive along.

Economic efficiency

There is also a structural imbalance for the efficiency and the useful load of the productioninfrastructure, the public infrastructure and the recreational infrastructure. The means of

production like factories and office-buildings are used only 5 days a week and during the 2days of the weekend they are idle, not productive, empty. On the other hand there is in manyregions a need for new industrial areas, to create new jobs. But this means less space for housing, land for agriculture, recreational areas and natural parks. In some branches of theeconomy with continual production, like the petrochemical industry or the ports, there isactivity seven days a week, at the cost of higher wages for the weekend-work.

The infrastructure of schools and universities is also not used to its full capacity as they areempty during the weekend. Shopping centers are overcrowded on Saturday with people andtheir cars, but during working days they are often an oasis of peace and rest, unless they arelocated near offices, where they are frequented only during lunch hours or after the workinghours. In some countries shops are already open around the clock and in other countries the


6/14


170

big commercial companies demand the governments to legalize flexible working hours sothey do not have to pay extra for weekend work and evening-work. This at the expense of thequality of life of the employees, who have to work out solutions for practical problems suchas babysitter, transport of children to and from school, and also at the expense of the smallindependent shopkeepers who have to adapt their business-hours if they do not want to losetheir customers. Sport infrastructure and cultural infrastructure is used only during theevening hours on working-days and of course during the weekend.

Personal quality of life

This division of time has also some disadvantages on the personal level.

When you buy furniture or a washing-machine, these are usually delivered at your homeduring working hours on a working day, so you have to take a day off from work. When thereis some work to be done at your home by a plumber or electrician, some roofing or paintinghas to done, then the professionals come to your house during the normal working hours andyou have to sacrifice holidays for these practical matters. There is also a problem with theaccessibility of public and private services like the townhouse, the post-office, the bank, thesocial security office, the dentist, the doctor,... whose opening-hours synchronize with your normal working hours. So another day off is sacrificed. Some of these services have opening-hours till 7.00 PM or on Saturday morning, but this means extra costs and a burden for theemployees and their children.

In this stressful society a lot of people want more quality of life, are fed up with the rush-rushway of life. They want a better balance between time for commuting and actual working time;they want more time for recreation and their family.

Public finances

Most governments have financial problems due to the situation of the world-economy and thedemographic evolution. Their budgetary capacity is dependent on economic growth and thelevel of activity or the unemployment of their population.

The economic growth of a country is supported by two components: internal economicgrowth and the surplus of their trading balance as a result of export to other countries.Countries are dependent on the economic situation of their trading partners for their export-level, and for most countries the situation is not so good. In order to be competitive the cost of

production and the wages should be lowered, but this erodes the purchasing power of the own

population and thus the internal economic growth.The post World War II baby-boom generation is getting older and life expectancy hasincreased considerably in recent years, so in most countries the public and private systems of retirement-pensions will be under great pressure. In some countries people are already warnedthat they will have to work longer in order to increase the level of activity in order to keep the

public and private pension-systems viable. On the other hand it is difficult for older people toget a well-paid job in this fast evolving technological society.


7/14


171

8.4.3 A possible solution

This seems to be a Gordian knot. Solutions seem to be expensive or even unpayable, they willlead to higher taxes or inflation, and they will never be acceptable for everyone in society.Many of these measures will be a burden on the environment (more roads, more industrialzones, less space for nature and leisure-time...) and create new problems.

And then you have the blissful optimist who once sang There are no problems, onlysolutions and People say Im crazy doing what Im doing, you know, the guy who sent theimmortal song Imagine into the world.

Before his successful solo-career John Lennon was member of the Beatles, a band whichcompiled an impressive series of 27 N 1 hits.

In their songs you can discover a lot a social, personal and spiritual wisdom, (Let It Be, The

Long and Winding Road... ), and one of these songs might well enter the history as the Odean die Freude of this century:

Eight Days a Week

Ooh I need your love babe,Guess you know its true.Hope you need my love babe,Just like I need you.Hold me, love me, hold me, love me.

Aint got nothin but love babe,Eight days a week.

Love you evry day girl,Always on my mind.One thing I can say girl,Love you all the time.Hold me, love me, hold me, love me.Aint got nothin but love babe,Eight days a week.

Eight days a week I love you.


8/14


172

Eight days a week Is not enough to show 1 care,

Ooh I need your love babe,

Eight days a week ...

Love you evry ...

Eight days a week. Eight days a week. Eight days a week.

Let us indeed try to manage our time in a more creative way. How could we organize aneight-day-week? Maybe we could arrive to what I would call the dual active-recreationalsociety.

Well, imagine(!) that one part of the active population and the kids at school and students atuniversity are active the first 4 days, and that they are off the next 4 days, and the other part isoff the first 4 days and active the next 4 days.

Day 1 till 4 Day 5 till 8

50% of the population Active

(panem)

Off

(circencem)

50% of the population Off (circencem)

Active(panem)

As a matter of fact, every physical socioeconomic entity would be divided into twological entities that are alternating active and idle, so the physical entity would be used atfull capacity. This would indeed result into a dual society, but not a vertical one with peoplewith a job and people without a job, haves versus have-nots, but rather into a sorthorizontal timesharing system across the whole of society of actives and not-actives, andwith less have-nots.

Imagine all the peopleSharing all the world...

John Lennon, Imagine

And what is left of our Gordian knot?

Structural traffic jams in the morning and the evening would be considerablyreduced without need for huge investments in roads and public transport. They

both would be used in a more optimal way every day of the week and every hour of the day.


9/14


10/14


174

Of course it is necessary to do further investigations on the social and economic benefits of this proposal. This should be done in a social debate, coordinated by a team of not onlyeconomists and managers, but also sociologists, engineers, labor unions, organizationsrepresenting small entrepreneurs, pedagogues, youth-organizations, political parties,governmental services, and this in co-operation with international organizations like the UNO,ILO, UNCTAD, IMF...

Many questions remain to be answered.

Is it possible that one country could implements this alone, or should it be done ona continental level or on global level? I dont think it matters. The shop of thecountry would be permanently open for business, and even now countries aresituated in different time-zones on the globe and some of them are islands. Soevery country can make its own arrangements, even region by region.

What is the influence on wages, on the one side what employers have to pay andon the other side what employees can earn?

What is the influence on energy consumption and pollution? Surely the electricityconsumption would be more equalized over the week, so the consumption peaksand dips would be leveled out. The total production of electricity could beincreased, while investments in higher production capacity or in the distributionnetwork could be postponed. Immediately a higher profit-ratio for electricitycompanies! Or lower prices?

Maybe a working-day of 9 hours is socially acceptable if there is less traffic-jamand a weekend counts 4 days? So every day of the present seven-day-calendar half of the population would work 9 hours a day. For the employees this means areduction in working time of 21%, while the useful load of factories and officeswould increase with 57%! (see the simulation at the end of the section.)

Unemployment would evaporate instantly. In the future one could use the number of working hours per day in order to fine-tune the economy. Imagine, time asmeans of investment. Indeed, isnt time money, as they say in English?

What would be the effect on drug abuse, crime figures and violence in society,when more people would be able to find a job and have enough leisure time? Whatwould be the effect on absenteeism from work and on the cost of healthcare?

Is there a need for a new calendar system or is it feasible with the present sevendays a week calendar? According to me the present calendar system is just fine; it

is just a matter of organization, of time management. On a certain week part of the population would start their work-period on a Monday and work till Thursday, theother part of the population would then work from Friday till Monday, so the firstgroup would then take over on the next Tuesday, etc. The start of a work-periodfor a person would shove up one day each week. This becomes clear when youlook at the simulation at the end of this section.

How does this proposal fit in the trend towards globalization and with the transfer of production facilities and services, like call-centers and software-production, tothe lower-wage-countries?

When can it be introduced? Very often social changes of this magnitude have beenintroduced after a major war (5 days working week, the general right to vote...).More on that subject later on, but I dont think we have to wait for such an event.


11/14


175

We better do it at the beginning of a school-year. The family-unit should indeed bethe central focus-point in this social (r)evolution.

And another N 1 of the Beatles is We can work it out!

This proposal might induce some resistance from religious factions. But which one? For theMuslims Friday is the day of prayer, for the Jews the Saturday is the Sabbath, for theChristians Sunday is the day reserved for the Lord... It is difficult to satisfy everyone with thatmany religions...

On the other hand every day in the week could be a day for prayer, contemplation or meditation for part of the population... Isnt religion a private matter between an individual

person and his Creator? And the self-employed people, well they can decide themselves howthey will arrange their time.

I have discussed this idea already with a lot of people, and I found out that once they realizethat time is just a convention, they understand the scope of the idea and what the impact could

be on society and their personal life. Most of them said they wished this regime was alreadyimplemented, but at the same time they were very skeptical about the willingness of politicalleaders to do something about it, or of other people to accept this new way of living.

The greatest single obstacle to the resolution of great problems in the past wasthinking they could not be solved a conviction based on mutual distrust.Psychologists and sociologists have found that most of us are more highlymotivated than we think each other to be! For instance, most Americans polledfavor gun control but believe themselves in the minority. We are like DavidRiesmans college students, who all said they did not believe advertising but

thought everyone else did. Research has shown that most people believethemselves more high-minded than most people. Others are presumed to be


12/14


176

less open and concerned, less willing to sacrifice, more rigid. Here is the supreme irony: our misreading of each other 158 .

M. Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy , pp. 447-448.

Or as John Lennon has formulated in his song Imagine :

You may say Im a dreamer But Im not the only oneI hope someday youll join usAnd the world will be as one

One world? Well, rather a dual society, but then not a vertical one with haves at the top andhave-nots at the bottom, but a horizontal one in which the burden for making the panem

and enjoying the circencem are evenly distributed. Indeed a New World Order, but then tothe advantage of everybody.

158 Induced by the mass media, as very clearly illustrated by Noam Chomsky in Failed States , in thesection Public Opinion and Public Policy , pp. 228-236.


13/14


177

Simulation : The least common multiple of 7 and 8 is 56. So let us consider a 56 day period.

Present situation Future situation

Week Day

Hoursfacilities

are used

Working-hours/

person

Hoursfacilities

are used

Working-hours/

person

group 1

Working-hours/

person

group 21 Week 1 Monday 8 8 9 92 Tuesday 8 8 9 93 Wednesday 8 8 9 94 Thursday 8 8 9 95 Friday 8 8 9 96 Saturday 9 97 Sunday 9 98 Week 2 Monday 8 8 9 99 Tuesday 8 8 9 9

10 Wednesday 8 8 9 911 Thursday 8 8 9 912 Friday 8 8 9 913 Saturday 9 914 Sunday 9 915 Week 3 Monday 8 8 9 916 Tuesday 8 8 9 9

17 Wednesday 8 8 9 918 Thursday 8 8 9 919 Friday 8 8 9 920 Saturday 9 921 Sunday 9 922 Week 4 Monday 8 8 9 923 Tuesday 8 8 9 924 Wednesday 8 8 9 925 Thursday 8 8 9 926 Friday 8 8 9 927 Saturday 9 928 Sunday 9 929 Week 5 Monday 8 8 9 930 Tuesday 8 8 9 931 Wednesday 8 8 9 932 Thursday 8 8 9 933 Friday 8 8 9 9

34 Saturday 9 935 Sunday 9 936 Week 6 Monday 8 8 9 937 Tuesday 8 8 9 938 Wednesday 8 8 9 939 Thursday 8 8 9 940 Friday 8 8 9 941 Saturday 9 942 Sunday 9 943 Week 7 Monday 8 8 9 944 Tuesday 8 8 9 945 Wednesday 8 8 9 946 Thursday 8 8 9 947 Friday 8 8 9 948 Saturday 9 949 Sunday 9 950 Week 8 Monday 8 8 9 951 Tuesday 8 8 9 952 Wednesday 8 8 9 953 Thursday 8 8 9 954 Friday 8 8 9 955 Saturday 9 956 Sunday 9 9

Total hours (sum) 320 320 504 252 252

Reduction of working hours per person: 21,25 %Increase in hours facilities are used: 57,50 %

Intermediate conclusion: Short of labor forceEconomic efficiency would increase considerably

Final conclusion: Some fine-tuning is needed, but looks very promising


14/14


178

8.4.4 The quaternary sector.

During the course of history, the economic and social landscape went through an enormousevolution. Until the early Middle Ages, the major part of the population was working on thefields as serfs, later came the mediaeval towns with the craft-guilds and the commercialguilds, which took care of the industrial production and the trade.

Due to the advancing mechanization since the Industrial Revolution, less and less peopleneeded to work in the agricultural sector (the primary sector), and more people wereemployed in the industry (the secondary sector). By the use of automation like the assembly-

belt, less people were needed in the industry and employment in the secondary sector decreased, while more and more people worked in the service industries (the tertiary sector).

So far the classical division of employment which is used by economists: people areemployed in the primary, the secondary or the tertiary sector. But this point of view lags far

behind reality, primarily because this vision fails to focus on man as man ; it just considers people as a means of production .

It is my solemn conviction that man is not created only to work. All work and no play makesJack a dull boy. Most people do not go to work because they like it, but in order to make aliving in order to fulfill their needs. And once they make enough money, they spend asubstantial part of it on things and activities they really like: a good dinner in a restaurant,going to the movies, listen to music, do some sport, a visit to the sauna, a trip to an exoticisland, in brief: they want to enjoy themselves during their leisure time.

And this brings us to the quaternary sector (I admit, not directly an original name): the setof human activities that involves leisure time in the widest sense of the word: the hotel andcatering industry, the cultural sector, the film and music industry, tourism, sport, Thissector already exists 159 , its turnover and employment are even gigantic in these days, andfortunes are made by entertainers and sportsmen. And when the eight days a week regimewould be introduced, the economic importance of this quaternary sector could increaseconsiderably, and become more important than the other three sectors combined. It couldgenerate a substantial economic growth and thus also profit for society and for companies, sothere would be no need any more for the sector of disinvestment goods and wars in order to

pull the profit ratio to a substantial higher level.

8.5 Fair collection of taxes

On the international financial markets, 180 dollar is daily traded per man,woman or child, and this with a world population of 5.6 billion people. Theworld trade in commodities is about 4,000 billion dollar per year. One does notneed a computer to calculate that only 1% of the exchange in foreigncurrencies has something to do with the international trade in commodities.The rest is pure trading, with as sole purpose portfolio management and thesatisfaction of a gambling instinct.

Armand Van Dormael, The Power behind Money , p. 7.

159 I even think that this sector is historically the oldest sector.

Documents

Eight Days a Week - The Fourth Wave - the Dual Active-recreational Society, The Fourth Wave