The first of the Bourne films finished off with the main female character isolating herself from the nerve-wrecking thrill of a life she had been leading for the previous 90 minutes of film, running a small and cute motorbike rental place in a town beach in the coast of Italy (or maybe it was France?). As the camera zooms in we see windows wide open, the sun and a light breeze coming in through them. Her hair collected, her back bare - every element in the scene talks of freedom and stresslessness.
Hollywood has this ability to put into clear and desireable images the collective dreams of us ticket payers. Who hasn't dreamt of owning a quiet cafe by the beach (more so in those work days that are particuarly unrewarding, stressful or just plain boring).
A recent study titled "Would you work if you won the lottery? Tracking changes in the American work ethic." (Highhouse, Scott; Zickar, Michael J.; Yankelevich, Maya) sheds some light into how much of a means (rather than an end in itself) work is for most Americans (The last longitudinal study of this issue was conducted by Vecchio in 1980).
Both Vecchio's study and this new edition conclude there has been a significant decline in work ethic since the 1950s. In other words, the percent of people who would stop working if blessed by the random finger of luck has been following a steady upwards trend for a long while.
Has work become tougher over the years? Or is it (more likely I believe) that the modern polarisation of work & life delivers us an increasingly idealised view of neverending leisure?
... a debate only to be had in the presence of a well cooled caipirinha.
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