Re: Beef and revolution in Central America

[rahul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rahul Mahajan)]

Brian:

>>First, I'd like you to provide some evidence for the claim that
>>several hundred years ago people worked shorter hours.

Doug:

>This is an incontrovertible historical fact. Early capitalist England had
>to lengthen the workday by legal compulsion. For the historical numbers,
>see Juliet Schor's The Overworked American.

True enough, Doug, but this doesn't support the contention that people
*today* work longer hours than they did centuries ago. Are you talking
about an average over the world, or would you claim that people in the West
work longer hours today than, say, 3 centuries ago? If the latter, could
you provide some documentation. The work required in agriculture varies
greatly over the course of the year, of course, but when you add in all the
household work, it would seem that your thesis is very questionable. And,
of course, this doesn't address the big difference between "mental" work
and physical work.

Rahul




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