“Busyness” is a subjective state that results from the individual’s assessment of his or her recent or expected activity patterns in the light of current norms and expectations. However, for busyness to be an externally observable behavior, it would need to be reflected in long hours of paid work and in the density of work and leisure, that is, the frequency and variety of activities undertaken. (It would also be evident in the multiplicity of simultaneous activities, a topic not covered here but which, I will argue in subsequent chapters, is key in the digital age.)
Gershuny finds little evidence for such objective behavioral changes in busyness. While higher-skilled groups did increase their paid work time relative to lower-skilled groups, paid work overall declined for both men and women. Significantly, there was no increase in the intensity of activities (on either a workday or a nonwork day). Although this empirical evidence cannot prove that there has been a change in the social construction of busyness, Gershuny concludes that it is consistent with his argument. If there has been no behavioral change, then the explanation must lie in the changed cultural meaning of busyness. One part of the resolution of the time-pressure paradox, then, is that busyness, and not leisure, is the “badge of honor.”
According to this view, then, busyness is largely a cultural orientation. Certainly, the argument resonates with the representation of some groups, such as financial traders and corporate executives, who are invested in high-pressure, burnout careers and whose status derives from their workaholism. However, the parallel with Veblen’s leisure class, while striking, exaggerates the freedom of this new superordinate class whose work pressures are largely the result of managerial performance measures. They may embrace the high-speed work culture, but it is important to emphasize that it is not entirely of their choosing.
This is particularly pertinent given the extent to which, over the last decade or so, firms have sought to convert many high-wage and fullbenefit workers to contingent and contract workers. The managers and professionals who have survived work longer hours to ensure their job security and increase their chances of promotion. Long hours are the principal means of demonstrating commitment and ambition to employers. A concurrent trend in the economy has been the expansion of work schedules into evenings and weekends. The profound influence of mobile technologies on working time is the subject of subsequent chapters. At the very least, discussions about the symbolic status of busyness should take into account changed employment conditions and concerns about job security.
Chapter three
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