Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2021
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Comparative Literature
Advisor
Bettina Lerner
Keywords
idleness, work, leisure, punk
Abstract
As our leisure time has increased in the twenty-first century, paradoxically, so too have social and cultural expectations about the nature and value of work. In this thesis, I argue that work in the modern world has taken on new shapes – the project of identity formation, image maintenance, and receptiveness to advertising – and how these new forms of work are fundamentally intertwined with leisure. I first aim to establish a timeline of Western attitudes to work, beginning with the works of Max Weber, Jon D. Wisman, and Matthew E. Davis. Then, through the lens of the 1970s punk movement, I show how these attitudes have progressed from aspiration to dejection and resentment. Through texts by Lewis Hyde and Jenny Odell, I present idleness as distinct not only from work, but from its capitalist counterpart, leisure, and argue for an adoption of idleness as a means of self- and cultural preservation.
Recommended Citation
Sanchez, Lea S., "The Problem of Leisure: A Modern History of Work and Idleness" (2021). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4585
