TIME WITHOUT WORK
People who are not working tell their stories
* How They Feel * What They Do * How They Survive
by Walli F. Leff & Marilyn G. Haft
Walli F. Leff and Marilyn G. Haft traveled across the U.S. collecting in-depth personal accounts of what it is like not to work 
in this society where working is such an important part of identity. In their own words, 73 men and women - a reporter whose newspaper had just folded, a pregnant welfare mother whose job training program taught résumé
writing but no job skills, laid-off construction workers, community volunteers, retired people, rich people, victims of industrial disease and dozens of other interesting and unusual people - tell their poignant, angry, funny, tragic, and inspiring stories. They use statistical, historical and cross-cultural evidence to challenge the myth that most people in this society actually
work and that the work ethic is well-entrenched and pervasive. They outline changes in work expectations and work demands brought about by newly-raised consciousness and by post-industrialism. And, drawing on the stories, they trace a psychological road map for readers who may find themselves out of work in the future.
The authors say: "Seventy-three stories about one experience, all very different from one another. But look at them as a whole and patterns emerge. If you track the forms forward, some of the shape of the future can be seen in outline. The stories exhibit how the quality of life without work hinges on how a person relates to time and money.
"...ability to handle unstructured time is something one learns from experience.... Hardly anybody has had much unstructured time. Our society is remarkably routinized, and regardless of whether people work or not, they tend to observe the conventional routines. Significantly, most of the divisions into which our lives are chopped are based largely around work. We go to school from nine to three, work from nine to five, and observe our holidays on Mondays, regardless of the date they commemorate, in order to have a three day week-end...
"...Transcending money as the organizing principle in life can spur a wealth of creativity. A number of people we met had turned activities they enjoyed doing, such as carpentry, or cooking gourmet meals into sellable services that helped pay their expenses and left them free to continue doing the other things they want to do, or just live without having to endure the routine of a job.
"...this book is but a beginning. But if, in addition to the revealing stories it offers its readers, this book succeeds in outlining patterns that turn out to be fruitful dimensions when traced forward to the future, it will have served its purpose..."
1983, 6 x 9, 417 pp, soft cover.
TIME WITHOUT WORK: $9.00
(ORDER NUMBER 94232)
GO TO ORDER FORM
MORE BOOKS
LOOMPANICS UNLIMITED 1998 Retail Catalog
Order Toll-Free 1-800-380-2230, Monday Through Friday, 8am to 4 pm
YOUR ORDER IS SHIPPED WITHIN 24 HOURS
OF RECEIPT!