TR 1070 Lecture 15: 3-6 Perspectives of Leisure and Play
5 Jun 2018
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Department
Course
Professor
Primary view of republican: non-religious
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Other view was with Jonathon Edwards, with the religious view- coming of God
Pre and post millennial
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Work to prepare and perfect the kingdom
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What is worthwhile in and for itself- prayer, reading the bible, singing
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Disinterested benevolence: taking joy in the joy of others
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Center people's lives around a Christian community
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Benjamin Franklin predicts:
4 hours a day work days is within reach
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Pursuit of happiness is being articulated and plausible- others are also working on this idea
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American labor movement
Works on shorter hours
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Then works on higher pay
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Until after ww2, then it drops shorter hours????
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Progressive shortening of hours of labor
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The balance of life was supposed to shift outside of the market place and working towards
abundance of leisure
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Unlike Europe, where radical change of government to socialism of communism
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American radicalism is to leave capitalism 1 hour at a time- not a revolution, but a peaceful change
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George Meany
Without the argument of shorter hours- American labor movement would fail
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Selfish system
Ten hour system vs the selfish system ?????
Ten hours is outside of selfish
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The progressive shorter hours movement
Labor movement gets stronger in 20th century-
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Part of higher progress
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Democratic culture
Not letting someone else do your work
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It is a true democracy
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All can create own culture
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So what?
There is an alternative to what we're doing, that is worth doing
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Abundance revisited
Historical definition: enough material goods to move on to higher progress
The common sense version of abundance that Benjamin Franklin and others talked about
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More modern: psychological declining of utility
Easterlin paradox: unlined developing nations, in the industrial nations of the world,
increases in material wealth are not correlated with increases in happiness or subjective
well-being
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Explaining the easterlin paradox: positive psychologists, Ed diener and martin Seligman
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As societies grow wealthy- differences in well-being are less frequently due to income,
and are more frequently due to factors such as social relationships
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Social relationships take time
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Economic formulations of abundance
Supply curve is the right side- look at notes
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Labor is added on the left side
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Explanations of the backward bending supply curve of labor
It's better to not pay workers too much, because then they would stop working
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The rich will invest their money and keep working
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Utilitarian's and marginalists
Utility = pleasure – pain
Avoid things that are painful
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Declining marginal utility
Marginal utility: the relationship between goods and services
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Declining utility: the more of any one thing, the less utility (pleasure)
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Utility of 2 goods/ consumption vs leisure
The utility of material consumption in general declines in relation to the disutility of
working that remains constant, or has at least a "net pain" sum
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Ergo: the backward bending supply curve of labor
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3/6 Lecture Notes
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
3:18 PM
Document Summary
Other view was with jonathon edwards, with the religious view- coming of god. What is worthwhile in and for itself- prayer, reading the bible, singing. Disinterested benevolence: taking joy in the joy of others. 4 hours a day work days is within reach. Pursuit of happiness is being articulated and plausible- others are also worki. The balance of life was supposed to shift outside of the market place and w abundance of leisure. Unlike europe, where radical change of government to socialism of commun. American radicalism is to leave capitalism 1 hour at a time- not a revolution, Without the argument of shorter hours- american labor movement would fai. All can create own culture working on this idea and working towards mmunism lution, but a peaceful change uld fail. There is an alternative to what we"re doing, that is worth doing. Historical definition: enough material goods to move on to higher progress.
