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Beyond the Work Society? Social Policy and the Reduction of Working Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2025

Daniel Sage Open the ORCID record for Daniel Sage [Opens in a new window]
Daniel Sage*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Geography and Social Sciences, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
*
Email: daniel.sage@edgehill.ac.uk
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Abstract

Recently there has been increased attention in critiques of paid work and calls for less work via working-time reduction. Yet except for universal basic income and the shorter working week, few have examined how welfare states, more broadly, can effectively reduce working-time. This article argues widespread change is required to effectively reduce working-time. First, it explores how welfare states have historically affected working-time. Second, it examines universal basic income and the shorter working week as conduits for working-time reduction. Third, the article analyses alternative ways that working-time reduction has been achieved in advanced welfare states through, for example, parental leave policies, sabbaticals, and annual leave entitlements. In doing so, it concludes with a ‘life-time’ perspective, whereby the goal of less work is imagined and achieved over a whole life. This holds the best hope for a gradual, but profound, change in social and cultural norms around paid work.

Keywords

working-time reductionuniversal basic incomeshorter working weekwork ethic
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , First View , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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