Is the work ethic dead? When is enough enough?

"The work ethic has become obsolete. It is no longer true that producing more means working more, or that producing more will lead to a better way of life.The connection between more and better has been broken; our needs for many products and services are already more than adequately met ,and many of our as-yet- unsatisfied needs will be met not by producing more, but by producing differently, producing other things, or evenproducing less. This is especially true as regards our needs for air,water, space, silence, beauty, time and human contact.


Neither is it true any longer that the more each individual works, the better off everyone will be. The present crisis has stimulated technological change of an unprecedented scale and speed: `the micro-chiprevolution'. The object and indeed the effect of this revolution has been to make rapidly increasing savings in labour, in the industrial,administrative and service sectors. Increasing production is secured inthese sectors by decreasing amounts of labour. As a result, the social process of production no longer needs everyone to work in it on afull-time basis. The work ethic ceases to be viable in such a situation and workbased society is thrown into crisis." André Gorz, Critique of Economic Reason,Gallilé,1989

When is enough enough? How much further can we push our body, mind and emotions before they crack. Mental illness is increasing as the vulnerable one fall by the way side first. Will all the dominos fall? What will happen then? A regrouping, rethinking of society? Or will this be forced upon us by catalclysmic changes in the financial or climatic spheres?

Truly something to ponder about ....