Discussion Pre-industrial workers had a shorter workweek than today's

Trauma

Trauma

Lost
Apr 3, 2022
44
TL;DR The average medieval peasant had more free time than you, and his work life was way less stressful.

The labouring man will take his rest long in the morning; a good piece of the day is spent afore he come at his work; then he must have his breakfast, though he have not earned it at his accustomed hour, or else there is grudging and murmuring; when the clock smiteth, he will cast down his burden in the midway, and whatsoever he is in hand with, he will leave it as it is, though many times it is marred afore he come again; he may not lose his meat, what danger soever the work is in. At noon he must have his sleeping time, then his bever in the afternoon, which spendeth a great part of the day; and when his hour cometh at night, at the first stroke of the clock he casteth down his tools, leaveth his work, in what need or case soever the work standeth.
-James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, ca. 1570

One of capitalism's most durable myths is that it has reduced human toil. This myth is typically defended by a comparison of the modern forty-hour week with its seventy- or eighty-hour counterpart in the nineteenth century. The implicit -- but rarely articulated -- assumption is that the eighty-hour standard has prevailed for centuries. The comparison conjures up the dreary life of medieval peasants, toiling steadily from dawn to dusk. We are asked to imagine the journeyman artisan in a cold, damp garret, rising even before the sun, laboring by candlelight late into the night.

These images are backward projections of modern work patterns. And they are false. Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all. The tempo of life was slow, even leisurely; the pace of work relaxed. Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure. When capitalism raised their incomes, it also took away their time. Indeed, there is good reason to believe that working hours in the mid-nineteenth century constitute the most prodigious work effort in the entire history of humankind.

Therefore, we must take a longer view and look back not just one hundred years, but three or four, even six or seven hundred. Consider a typical working day in the medieval period. It stretched from dawn to dusk (sixteen hours in summer and eight in winter), but, as the Bishop Pilkington has noted, work was intermittent - called to a halt for breakfast, lunch, the customary afternoon nap, and dinner. Depending on time and place, there were also midmorning and midafternoon refreshment breaks. These rest periods were the traditional rights of laborers, which they enjoyed even during peak harvest times. During slack periods, which accounted for a large part of the year, adherence to regular working hours was not usual. According to Oxford Professor James E. Thorold Rogers[1], the medieval workday was not more than eight hours. The worker participating in the eight-hour movements of the late nineteenth century was "simply striving to recover what his ancestor worked by four or five centuries ago."

An important piece of evidence on the working day is that it was very unusual for servile laborers to be required to work a whole day for a lord. One day's work was considered half a day, and if a serf worked an entire day, this was counted as two "days-works."

The medieval calendar was filled with holidays. Official -- that is, church -- holidays included not only long "vacations" at Christmas, Easter, and midsummer but also numerous saints' andrest days. These were spent both in sober churchgoing and in feasting, drinking and merrymaking. In addition to official celebrations, there were often weeks' worth of ales -- to mark important life events (bride ales or wake ales) as well as less momentous occasions (scot ale, lamb ale, and hock ale). All told, holiday leisure time in medieval England took up probably about one-third of the year. And the English were apparently working harder than their neighbors. The ancien règime in France is reported to have guaranteed fifty-two Sundays, ninety rest days, and thirty-eight holidays. In Spain, travelers noted that holidays totaled five months per year.

Source : https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html
 
Trauma

Trauma

Lost
Apr 3, 2022
44
You underestimate how hard agricultural work is
I agree, if he wants this ancient work model, he can take a shovel and dig for 6 hours straight in the sun.
Do you two realize this work model was the reason people were fit back in the day? Not only that, but the food these people ate was organic and healthy unlike the mass produced goods of today. They were used to this work model because it was all they knew, it may be hard for you, but it wasn't hard for them.
 
Earlybloomer01

Earlybloomer01

Monster
Feb 17, 2021
63
Do you two realize this work model was the reason people were fit back in the day? Not only that, but the food these people ate was organic and healthy unlike the mass produced goods of today. They were used to this work model because it was all they knew, it may be hard for you, but it wasn't hard for them.
Lol at you thinking peasants ate good food
 
Trauma

Trauma

Lost
Apr 3, 2022
44
Lol at you thinking peasants ate good food
They did, they grew their own food after all.

"There has always been a misconception about the peasant diet. Sure, during times of famine, they’d have to resort to eating whatever they could find, but under normal circumstances, they ate reasonably well."

"[UWSL]Today, we’re encouraged to eat more green vegetables and organic produce. While the rich gorged on meat and had decadent tastes, it’s not their diet that we should aspire to emulate; it’s the peasant’s diet."[/UWSL]



 
Last edited:
Earlybloomer01

Earlybloomer01

Monster
Feb 17, 2021
63
They did, they grew their own food after all.

"There has always been a misconception about the peasant diet. Sure, during times of famine, they’d have to resort to eating whatever they could find, but under normal circumstances, they ate reasonably well."

Anime avi = opinion disregarded
 
rottingkyre

rottingkyre

NEET
Jun 3, 2021
1,310
Do you two realize this work model was the reason people were fit back in the day?
No fitness for your face and height

Not only that, but the food these people ate was organic and healthy unlike the mass produced goods of today.
Cool, they had healthy potatoes. They also had to pay half their monthy wage to afford spices.

They were used to this work model because it was all they knew, it may be hard for you, but it wasn't hard for them.
???? You can get used to anything, even getting beaten, abused and raped every day, I dont get your point
 
Trauma

Trauma

Lost
Apr 3, 2022
44
No fitness for your face and height
Not even related to this topic.
Cool, they had healthy potatoes. They also had to pay half their monthy wage to afford spices.
Spices were expensive, I'll give you that one, but they had creative ways of dealing with that.

"[UWSL]Spices were far too expensive and out of reach for most peasants, so instead, many got creative with the herbs they could find.[/UWSL]

One particular herb, sorrel, would be ground and strained under a linen cloth to produce a sauce. Other herbs like parsley could also be used, and this would make a green sauce that could be added to fish, pottage, or other dishes to enhance their flavour."
???? You can get used to anything, even getting beaten, abused and raped every day, I dont get your point
Comparing physical labor with things like rape, being beaten, being abused etc makes zero sense. They are not even related.
 
rottingkyre

rottingkyre

NEET
Jun 3, 2021
1,310
Not even related to this topic.

Spices were expensive, I'll give you that one, but they had creative ways of dealing with that.

"[UWSL]Spices were far too expensive and out of reach for most peasants, so instead, many got creative with the herbs they could find.[/UWSL]

One particular herb, sorrel, would be ground and strained under a linen cloth to produce a sauce. Other herbs like parsley could also be used, and this would make a green sauce that could be added to fish, pottage, or other dishes to enhance their flavour."

Comparing physical labor with things like rape, being beaten, being abused etc makes zero sense. They are not even related.
I think we just like different things
 
milkistermoo

milkistermoo

NEET
Dec 2, 2020
2,890
You want the leisure and everything else they had but you want the lifestyle capitalism provides. Choose one.
 
K

kaang

lurkercel
Oct 29, 2021
3,333
What the actual *FUCK* is this thread? There used to be facilities built just to remove and house patients like this away from society, and even then most of those patients didn’t exhibit this kind of deluded and anti social behavior. Who or what the fuck even raised you people? This fucking website isn’t your mental daycare. You either have too much time on your hands in which case you need to meet and make friends, or you’re genuinely sick and need to meet and make friends with doctors. It’s frightening to even think you people are out there. Fuck off
 
Ritalincel

Ritalincel

😇
Nov 28, 2020
4,407
Anime avi = opinion disregarded
1659253169213
 
chudur-budur

chudur-budur

5'2" ugliest currycel, freak of nature
Nov 26, 2020
3,743
yet another proof that medieval surfs had significantly better lives than modern day city-dwelling-subway-riding-reddit-posting-toy-hoarding-soy-chugging normgroids, jfl
:feelslol:
:feelslol::feelslol::feelslol:
 
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