Human-beings have sustained themselves for the past millions of years. Nowadays, productivity have increased almost fivefold compared to that of a century ago,[1] and the global poverty rate are decreasing with remarkable speed. Yet, countless people are still suffering from overwork and a terrifying percentage of them die due to heavy workload and stress. Why, in this prospering world, in which most people have sufficient income to meet the basic needs, does a myriad of people suffer from overwork? What is the ultimate cause of this, and what factors contributed to this along the way? In James Suzman’s book Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time, the author provided answers while guiding readers through the history of humans.

The author’s narration can be divided into two: in prehistoric times and after early cities have emerged, and therefore the book report will comment on Suzman’s opinion from these two dimensions. Moreover, during the lockdown of COVID-19 in Shanghai, phenomenon that don’t usually happen before led to more thoughts of mine that is related to certain theories and opinions presented in the book. These thoughts will also appear in the following text.

First, for early humans, the revolutionary managing of fire lead to an important consequence: surplus in material and time. Fire led to a greater variety of food and material that was edible or useful, and the increased amount of energy provided to early humans led to increase in brian size; while surplus in time lead to boredom, thus enabling human to have artistic or religius activities. The surplus also led to the deep bond between human and domesticated animals, which contributed to the revolutionary transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers.

Although Suzman expertly illustrates how surplus enabled prehistoric humans to develop socially and culturally, he fails to recognize that surplus has always been important throughout human history, not just in prehistoric times. Whenever people are abundantly sustained, they acquires free time, and with this free time elite individuals will consider how to further develop productivity and technology. This belief of mine is supported by historical facts beyond the evidences provided by Suzman. Sir Issac Newton’s mother married a well-to-do minister, and the family wealth provided the material support for Issac’s higher education in Cambridge. This gave him a surplus in time—all he needed to do was study and did not need to worry about workings on farms. This surplus in time, along with his talent and dilligence, made it possible for him to lead a science revolution.[2] Similar cases include the 18th century scientist Thomas Young and entrepreneur Mark Zuckerburg: the former inherited a large fortune and the latter has parents with stable and high-income jobs.[3] The surplus in material wealth for both was the prerequisite for their eventual success that later boosted the development of science and society, and the prerequisite for their success is the prospering society with surplus that enabled them to have access to abundant material support.

Shifting gears, the author went along the timeframe and described the emergence of cities: “Like living organisms, cities are born, sustained and grown by capturing energy and putting it to work” [4]In this part of book, Suzman focuses on how overworking became an issue that emerged when surplus allowed human development to advance. Because the absolute needs were met when cities and complex trade developed, a demand to meet relative needs arose in the higher society, leading to exploitation of lower-class laborers. Suzman shows us sound solutions to this overwork in the forms of Taylorism and the Bank Holiday Act. He notes that they were indeed effective in finding the appropriate workload and motivating staff: Taylorism assigns the workers with specified skilled labor and offers extra wage for every bit of work they do, which motivates the workers and elevates their working spirit; the Bank Holiday Act, on the other hand, gives workers chances to rest for several times a year.

However, Suzman fails to recognize that Taylorism and Bank Holiday Act are effective because they also satisfy Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Taylorism strictly settled the routine working life for the clerks, which is a plan with high working pace while providing wages that depends on the amount of work completed. Taylorism can satisfy worker’s hope for pay rise and enough resting time—what was required was simply hard work and will meet the survival and safety needs of workers. But this does not mean Taylorism is endless work for the staff members. Quite the opposite, Taylorism seeks to find the optimal workload for each worker, and then the regime will hinder the worker from working more than he/she can. Moreover, Taylorism grants the workers stability and a sense of unity and cooperation towards their job (as the workload is best fitted and the work is highly cooperative and specified), thus it does not only satisfy the lower portion of the Maslow Pyramid but also the esteem needs in higher level. Similarly, the Bank Holiday Act was the first legitimate act to provide holiday rest for factory workers, guaranteeing enough amount of rest and preventing overwork, which evidently satisfies the relevant levels of Maslow’s pyramid: safety and social needs.

 Seeking solutions to satisfy the “absolute needs” and preventing overwork is particularly crucial in the current COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai. Heated competitions occurred among Shanghai citizens when we struggle to acquire enough food and supplements to maintain normal life style. But as the pandemic began to recede, people started purchasing deserts and snacks to achieve a higher living quality—a case in point for “relative needs”. However, the relative needs here will not cause overwork due to the consensus that we shouldn’t get too much extra during the pandemic, especially when many others are still struggling to meet the “absolute needs”. As a matter of fact, what can cause serious overwork during the pandemic is online learning and working, since they blurred the boundary between rest and work. In the spirit of problem solving introduced by Suzman, I believe that managers of businesses should think of methods to meet the social, esteem and self-actualization needs of staff, so as to help staff members maintain an optimistic and healthy life style—just as Taylorism and Bank Holiday Act did in industrialized factories. Online get-togethers for entertainments, providing food and supplements for workers, or regular check for mental health and welfare of workers during the lockdown are all methods that business can use to help workers undertake the grave pressure COVID-19 pandemic have posed on every one of us.

Overall, Suzman discussed how surplus and human needs have propelled us to extract energy through the form of working in ancient and modern society respectively. The opinions I hold is that surplus always give rise for social developments in both prehistoric and modern times. When overwork due to relative needs arose, the tactics which contributed to decreasing overwork are, in its essence, satisfying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for workers, thus making workers content with his/her current living condition and have more optimistic altitude towards life.
 

References:

Editors, Biography com. “Isaac Newton.” Biography, biography.com/scientist/isaac-newton. Accessed 14 May 2022.

---. “Mark Zuckerberg.” Biography, biography.com/business-figure/mark-zuckerberg. Accessed 23 May 2022.

Suzman, James. Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.

Thomas Young | Double-Slit Experiment, Biography, & Facts | Britannica. britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Young. Accessed 23 May 2022.

[1]Suzman, James. Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.
[2] Editors, Biography com. 《Isaac Newton》. Biography. Accessed 14 May 2022 biography.com/scientist/isaac-newton.
[3] 《Thomas Young | Double-Slit Experiment, Biography, & Facts | Britannica》. Accessed 23 May 2022 britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Young.

, Editors, Biography com. 《Mark Zuckerberg》. Biography. Accessed 23 May 2022 biography.com/business-figure/mark-zuckerberg.

 
[4]Suzman, James. Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021.