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Leisure and Boredom

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Technology and the division of labour have done two things:

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by eliminating in many fields the need for special strength or skill,

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they have made a very large number of paid occupations

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which formerly were enjoyable work into boring labour,

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and by increasing productivity

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they have reduced the number of necessary labouring of the population,

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that is to say, its labourers,

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will have almost as much leisure as in earlier times was enjoyed by the aristocracy.

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It seems interesting and relaxing good news at the first sight,

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but when one recalls how aristocracies in the past actually behaved,

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the prospect is not cheerful.

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The past aristocracies invented a lot of activities to make fun out of boredom,

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however, the problem of dealing with boredom may be even more difficult

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for such a future mass society than it was for aristocracies.

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The latter, for example, ritualized their time;

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there was a season to shoot grouse,

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a season to spend in town, a season to hold a lot of parties, etc.

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The masses are more likely to replace an unchanging ritual by fashion

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which it will be in the economic interest of certain people to change as often as possible.

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Again, the masses cannot go in for hunting,

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for very soon there would be no animals left to hunt.

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For other aristocratic amusements like gambling, dueling, and warfare,

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it may be only too easy to find equivalents in dangerous driving,

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drug-taking, and senseless acts of violence.

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Workers seldom commit acts of violence,

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because they can put their aggression into their work,

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be it physical like the work of a smith,

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or mental like the work of a scientist or an artist.

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The role of aggression in mental work

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is aptly expressed by the phrase “getting one’s teeth into a problem”.