He is the most famous celebrity of work criticism, accustomed to receiving both praise and criticism for his views on the “compulsion to work”. On the 24th of March, Roland Paulsen lectured at Åsa and left a strong impression on both supporters and critics alike.

Around 60 people gathered at the Apeln schoolhouse for the second evening event under the Åsadalen banner. The theme of this item in the democracy festival’s spring programme was Work.

The evening’s main attraction, sociologist and author Roland Paulsen, connected his computer to the projector screen and opened with an image of himself as a child.

Work as an end in itself
Back then, on the family farm, work appeared as something tangible. The older Paulsen became, the more he began to question the very meaning of work. His research, placed in relation to problems such as job anxiety, financial stress and a sense of meaninglessness, has since made him one of the country’s leading critics of work.

The lecture in Åsa was largely based on Paulsen’s breakthrough book The Working Society (Arbetssamhället, 2010). He argues that work has, throughout history, been shaped into an ideology and a compulsive end in itself, bordering on slavery.

Technological progress has reduced the need for labour. The accumulated wealth in society is enormous. Yet today we work more than ever, often in jobs with vague purposes and unclear goals.

A reduced sense of meaning
In his research, Paulsen links this to the fact that fewer and fewer people experience a sense of meaning in their work – and, by extension, in life.

– When so many people long for more leisure time, why does policy stubbornly focus on inventing and creating new jobs? Not all are meaningless, but they are jobs previous generations did not need, he reflects.

Present for a discussion with Paulsen was a panel consisting of three local politicians: Monica Johansson (Social Democrats), Victoria Barrsäter (Centre Party) and Thomas Selig (Left Party). After their reflections on work criticism, the discussion moved on to Paulsen’s vision of reduced working hours as a way of creating more meaning in life.

Historically new
– We work roughly the same amount as we did 50 years ago and have not seen any meaningful reduction in working hours. Instead, we are doing something historically new: by raising the retirement age, we are extending annual working time even further, he said.

Paulsen believes that policymakers must legislate for reduced working hours, initially moving towards a six-hour working day.

Working less for the same pay certainly sounds appealing, Victoria Barrsäter replied ironically. She considers such a path unrealistic.

– Politics can introduce local reductions in working hours, within municipal services such as home care. But legislating for a blanket reduction would hit small business owners particularly hard. We are talking about costs running into billions, she said.

Irrelevant for the Centre Party
The Centre Party wants more people to work and run businesses, not fewer. Within the party, the issue of reduced working hours is therefore irrelevant, Barrsäter clarified.

Within the Left Party, the view is the opposite. Thomas Selig sees many points of contact between the party’s theoretical foundations and Paulsen’s critique of working life. Now that the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) has begun seeking an agreement on a shorter working week with the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, this strengthens the Left Party’s hopes.

– We have pushed for a six-hour working day for a long time and will continue to do so, said Thomas Selig.

Like Barrsäter, Monica Johansson believes that the state should not step in and dictate working hours. However, she argues that politicians must dare to tackle the issue itself.

More than just time
– Within our party, the issue is strongly driven by the Social Democratic Women. We need a working life that people can cope with all the way to retirement, said Johansson.

She points out that the question of meaning and health in relation to work is far greater than a matter of time alone.

– It is also about finding a fair distribution. Today, many people work far too much while others do not work at all. That is a problem.

Text and photo: Henrik Wising