Work time reduction: old ideas and new possibilities

I address the goal of work time reduction from two distinct angles. Firstly, I review some old ideas (linked to the writings of Marx, J.S. Mill and Keynes) that imagine a better society where constant work is replaced with abundant leisure. I show how these ideas offer different views on the barriers preventing work time reduction and on the mechanisms required to achieve it. Secondly, I consider new possibilities for reducing working time in the future. There is now renewed confidence that work time reduction can and will be achieved: this confidence reflects predictions of work automation driven by new technology and the increase in business-led trials of a four-day working week. I argue that achieving work time reduction will face obstacles (it will not occur smoothly via technological progress, nor will it be achieved spontaneously by business-led reform), but that its pursuit remains vital and essential in advancing human well-being. Old ideas, therefore, can still fire our imaginations. At the same time, they remind us of the barriers to reform and the battle still to be fought in achieving a future where we all work less. Winning this battle will ultimately require us to strive for futures beyond capitalism.