Work and Leisure: Money, Identity, and Playfulness

This chapter deals with the (mis-)conception of work and leisure in orthodox economics. Based on critique of the ‘disutility theory of labour’ and the labour market model, it proposes an alternative approach. Besides earning income (i.e. instrumental benefit), the chapter identifies and emphasizes certain non-instrumental benefits from paid work: identity related benefits (i.e. a sense of meaning and a sense of belonging) and playfulness. If these non-instrumental benefits are missing or greatly underrepresented in paid work they may cause distress and alienation. Incorporating the neglected non-instrumental benefits into economic concepts of paid work, behaviour, well-being and development allows to overcome central deficits of orthodox economic theory. Issues like the effects of a redistribution and reduction in working hours as well as increased quality of paid work can be addressed by the proposed approach.