Work

Work is one of the most universal features of human life. Often associated with tedium and boredom, it conflicts with the things we would otherwise love to do. Thinking of work primarily as a burden - an activity we would rather be without - goes back at least as far as ancient Greece, whose philosophers generally regarded work as a terrible curse. Yet research shows that it prolongs life and is generally good for people's physical and mental health. Our attitudes toward work have changed significantly in the last decades and increased recognition of it as a crucial source of meaning and social identity has led to increased demands for opportunities to find meaning and self-realization in the workplace. Lars Svendsen argues that we need to complete this reorientation of our feelings about work and collapse the differences between leisure and work. We must think of work not only as productive but as recreative - in other words, much more like leisure.