Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure

Rating:
Summary: Confirms What You Suspected
Review: When I read this book, everything fell into place. Companies need workers, and they need customers. They could pay their workers enough to buy their goods, but they came up with something better (for them): credit, or the commitment to labor in the future to pay off the debt. Now they have workers (and customers) who are so deep in debt (or so eager to buy all the goods continuously marketed to them) that they have to work longer and longer hours. The history of employment and comparisons with the work hours of other countries were enlightening. When I saw how we are used, it changed my whole outlook. I read the book not long after it was originally published, and it's still one of my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking classic
Review: When Schor's book came out in the early ninties, people were somehow blind to the fact that Americans were working more and had significantly less leisure time. Her book functioned very much like the child who sees that the emperor has no clothes. Once this book was out, everyone began to realise what should have been obvious about the changes in the American workplace. But what give's Schor's book continued value is her analysis of the reasons why American's are still in this time trap. She goes beyond the usual analysis of the effects of advertising and consumerism by taking a look at labor history and showing why the people who run the workplace prefer to offer workers a productivity dividend of money, not time. She raises important questions about how much choice workers have about the hours they spend at work. A terrific book.

Rating:
Summary: Good points, bad ending
Review: While many comment that books such as these are too repetitive, repitition is in fact necessary to convey a point. Schor conveys her points well without too much repitition. However, she ends the book with some weak suggestions on how to improve conditions. These provide a bad opinionated ending to a book that contains good information.

Rating:
Summary: Good points, bad ending
Review: While many comment that books such as these are too repetitive, repitition is in fact necessary to convey a point. Schor conveys her points well without too much repitition. However, she ends the book with some weak suggestions on how to improve conditions. These provide a bad opinionated ending to a book that contains good information.