‘Freedom from Pressing Cares'? The Four‐Day Work Week and three forms of leisure time

Abstract

In John Maynard Keynes’s 1931 paper titled Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren, he projects future generations will work a mere 15 h per week. Though Keynes’ prediction has not yet come to fruition, his formulation of a ‘freedom from pressing cares’ as one of the most important consequences of a systematic reduction in working hours remains provocative. The standard full-time work week remains at 40 h over five days, but some organisations have adopted the four-day work week (4DWW) for improved work–life balance. As such, we empirically investigate how individuals manage such newly found leisure time. Through 36 interviews with employees at four Danish organisations, each of which treats Fridays as a day free from work, we develop three analytical categories of self-management processes: residual work, reproductive leisure and self-actualising leisure. These three categories enhance our understanding of the 4DWW in particular and of systematic work reduction initiatives more generally. The analysis shows how the ‘freedom from pressing cares’ allowed by the 4DWW is used to extend the work week, formalise gendered divisions of domestic labour and produce entrepreneurial subjects, thus expanding the current discourse on the 4DWW to address the broader societal and cultural implications of additional leisure time.