In a life busy with repetitive tasks, increasingly urgent, constraining and most often bureaucratic, Edgar Morin is the author of that famous line: “When there is a vacancy of values, there is value in vacations.”
A finding that has never deserved less resonance than in our chaotic era, where peace is menaced by the madness of a few, by robots and machines that deprive humanity of the respite necessary for its survival.
The time available for leisure, which gradually became a component of the social order since the summer of 1936, has indeed become the one we place at the top of our priorities.
As a bearer of physical and mental rest, it makes it possible to break with routine, with obligations and especially with our everyday geography. It most importantly enables the regeneration of the strength of workers outside mandated time.
A finding that has never deserved less resonance than in our chaotic era, where peace is menaced by the madness of a few, by robots and machines that deprive humanity of the respite necessary for its survival.
The time available for leisure, which gradually became a component of the social order since the summer of 1936, has indeed become the one we place at the top of our priorities.
As a bearer of physical and mental rest, it makes it possible to break with routine, with obligations and especially with our everyday geography. It most importantly enables the regeneration of the strength of workers outside mandated time.
The Duration of Time Expands
Having become an indispensable pause, free time now tends to lengthen as our societies evolve. After 1936 and the 15 days of paid holidays finally granted to workers, the third week appeared in 1956, and the fourth week was granted in 1969, within the social gains package of May ’68.Finally, in 1982, the fifth week codified a progression reflecting the shared aspiration for an improved quality of life and a possibility to fragment annual vacation times into multiple trips, allowing the tourism machinery to operate across several periods of the year. And for individuals to diversify their leisure consumption. And provided they have the means, their expenditure on tourist travel.
According to Jean Viard in his work: “The Triumph of a Utopia”, work now occupies only 10 to 12% of our lives compared with 40% in 1936!*
From Collective Rhythms to Individual Rhythms
Another major shift is the RTTs, which disrupted working times and fractured collective rhythms.
Fracturing in favor of personal time, sometimes endured but most often chosen, the reduction of working time has made free time more flexible and malleable, generating not only a sense of freedom but also the freedom to schedule leisure activities at times different from those of the majority.
A privilege that is increasingly sought after.
Fracturing in favor of personal time, sometimes endured but most often chosen, the reduction of working time has made free time more flexible and malleable, generating not only a sense of freedom but also the freedom to schedule leisure activities at times different from those of the majority.
A privilege that is increasingly sought after.
From Telework to Holidays Every Day
What more can be said about this other source of fragmentation that has become prominent since teleworking has entered our routines? Contributing to the elasticity of constrained time, telework blends free time with work.
We work and entertain ourselves at the same time from the edge of a swimming pool on the far side of the world! So much so that an American journalist described our era as the era of “holiday-everyday”—holidays every day…
And, finally, since AI is doing the work for us, aren’t we on the verge of a new mutation of working time and, consequently, of leisure time? If analysts are to be believed, we will no longer work as before and, more importantly, employment will necessarily fall!
We work and entertain ourselves at the same time from the edge of a swimming pool on the far side of the world! So much so that an American journalist described our era as the era of “holiday-everyday”—holidays every day…
And, finally, since AI is doing the work for us, aren’t we on the verge of a new mutation of working time and, consequently, of leisure time? If analysts are to be believed, we will no longer work as before and, more importantly, employment will necessarily fall!
A Caution About the Contradictions of the Leisure Industry
Read also: an interview excerpt from Marianne magazine with Jean Viard, about Edgar Morin known as the father of “complex thought.”
Jean Viard: “Behind complex thought lies the idea that the West has progressed by separating knowledge. The scientific nature of things has been defined as: mathematics to mathematicians, physics to physicists, etc.
Yet, in his view, the moment has come to bring knowledge together. Deep down, that is, if you wish, the heart of complex thought: we have separated knowledge, but now, to understand the world, we must unify them. We need to reintegrate humanism and values everywhere.”
Jean Viard: “Behind complex thought lies the idea that the West has progressed by separating knowledge. The scientific nature of things has been defined as: mathematics to mathematicians, physics to physicists, etc.
Yet, in his view, the moment has come to bring knowledge together. Deep down, that is, if you wish, the heart of complex thought: we have separated knowledge, but now, to understand the world, we must unify them. We need to reintegrate humanism and values everywhere.”
Journalist, consultant, lecturer, Josette Sicsic has been observing the mutations of the world for more than 25 years to analyze their implications for the tourism sector.
Having developed the Touriscopie journal for over two decades, she remains at the forefront of current events where she decodes the present to anticipate the future. On the site www.tourmag.com, in the Futuroscopie section, she publishes several times a week forward-looking and analytical articles.
Contact: 06 14 47 99 04
Email: [email protected]
Having developed the Touriscopie journal for over two decades, she remains at the forefront of current events where she decodes the present to anticipate the future. On the site www.tourmag.com, in the Futuroscopie section, she publishes several times a week forward-looking and analytical articles.
Contact: 06 14 47 99 04
Email: [email protected]
