Workaholism: Hazards and Benefits

The official weekly working time is 35 hours per week. In most countries of the world, it is limited to 45 hours per week. The trend during the last century seems to be clear: less work, more play.

Yet what may be true blue collar workers or government employees - is not necessarily so for white collar members of the liberal professions. It is not rare for these people - lawyers, accountants, consultants, managers, scientists - to put in 80 hour weeks. The phenomenon is so common and its social consequences, so damaging that it acquired the unflattering nickname for work, a combination of the words "work" and "alcoholism". Family life is disrupted, intellectual horizons narrow, that the consequences of the workaholic's health are severe: fat, lack of exercise, stress take their toll. As the "alpha" types, workaholics suffer three times as many heart attacks as their peers.

But what are the social and economic roots of this phenomenon?

Put concise, it is the result of a blurring of boundaries and differences between work and leisure. The distinction between these two types of time - one for work and spent one in pursuing their interests - was so clear for thousands of years that its gradual disappearance is one of the most important and profound social changes in the history of Humanity.

A variety of other shifts in the nature of work and home environments of people to produce significant converged change.

Arguably the most important of these was to increase the mobility of workers and the fluid nature of the concept of work and the workplace. The transition from agricultural to industrial, then to the services and now on the information and knowledge societies, each, which in turn increases the mobility of workers. A farmer is the least mobile. His means of production are fixed prices, its production was usually on the ground, because the lack of cooling ordnungsgemae, preservation and transportation. A marginal group of people were nomad dealer. This group exploded in the Grae with the beginning of the industrial revolution. True, the grate part of the workforce was still immobile and on the production floor. But raw materials and finished products traveled great distances to distant markets. Professional services were necessary, and the professional managers, lawyers, accountants, advisors, traders, the broker - all emerged as the parasites of production processes and the essential oil on his cogs.

Then came the services industry. His protagonists were no longer geographically dependent. They provided their services to a whole series of "employer" in a variety of ways and geographically distributed. This trend accelerated today, at the beginning of the information and knowledge management revolution. Knowledge is not locale. It is easily transferable limited. Its ephemeral quality, there is a temporal and non-spatial qualities. The situation of the participants in the economic interactions of this new age are geographically transparent.

These trends converged with an increase in the mobility of persons, goods and data (voice, video, text and others). The two revolutions of transportation and telecommunications really reduced the world a global village. Phenomena such as commuting to work and multinationals were first made possible. Facsimile messages, e-mail, other modem transmits data, broke the Internet is not only physical barriers - but also time. Today, virtual offices are not just virtual space - but also timed so. This means that workers can work together not only across continents, but also about time zones. You can work for someone to continue in an electronic mailbox for instance.

These recent technological advances precipitated the fragmentation of the very concepts of "work" and "work". No longer the three Aristotelian dramatic units. Could the work be carried out in different places, not simultaneously, by workers, part-time work whenever it suited them best, Flexitime and work from home commuting replaced as the preferred venue (much more in the Anglo-Saxon countries, but they have always been the pioneering harbingers of change). This kitchen directly into the social fragmentation characterizes today's world: the collapse of the previously solidarity social structures, such as the nuclear (not to mention the extended) family. This was all neatly wrapped in the ideology of individualism, as a private case of capitalism and liberalism. People were invited to feel and behave as distinct, autonomous units. The perception of individual islands replaced the former perception of people like cells in a organism.

This trend was coupled with - and through - the unprecedented consecutive annual increase in productivity and increases in world trade. These trends were supported by new management techniques, new production technology, innovative inventory control methods, automation, robotization, plant modernization, telecommunications (enables more efficient transmission of information), also new design concepts. But productivity gains from the people superfluous. No amount of retraining could cope with the incredible pace of technological change. more technologically advanced in the country - the higher its structural unemployment (attributable to changes in the structure of the market) went.

In Western Europe, it shot up by 5-6% of the workforce to 9% in a decade. One way to manage this flood of people was ejected for the workweek. Another was the support of a large population of unemployed. The third, more implied, was to legitimize leisure. The Jewish and Protestant work ethic condemned inaction in the past - they now started encouraging people to "self," habits and pursue non-work related interests and to express their entire personality.

This served to blur the historical differences between work and leisure . They were both praised by now the morals of our time. The work was always less structured and rigid - formerly the main feature of leisure. Could the work be continued - and an ever-growing size, was followed - from home. The separation between "job" and "Home Turf" has essentially been eliminated. The emotional leap was only a matter of time. Historically, people went to work because they had - and the rest was with "pleasure". Well, both were fun - or torture - or mix. Some people began to enjoy their work so much that it fulfil the functions normally only for leisure. They are the workaholics. Others continue to hate work - but felt disoriented in the new, leisure enriched environment. They were not qualified or trained to excess time, lack of framework, no clear instructions on what to do when, with whom and for what.

Socialization processes and socialization agents (government, parents, educators, employers) were not designed -- -- Nor have they see it as their responsibility - to train in order to provide people with free time and with the mystery and dazzling variety of options.

Economies and markets can be many criteria. Not the least of them is the work-leisure axis. These societies and economies, the old distinction between (hated) and (liberating) Recreation - are doomed to perish or, at best, radically behind. This is because they do not have developed a class of workaholics big enough to the economy ahead.

And this is the great lesson: it takes workaholics create, maintain and expand capitalism. Contrary to common beliefs (owned by the uninitiated) - people, especially not in the business, because they are looking for money (the classic profit motive). They do what they do because they like the Game of Business, its twists and turns, the brainstorming, the battle of the brain, subjugation markets, the ups and downs, the excitement. All this has nothing to do with pure money. It has everything to do with psychology. True, the counter of the success is measured in the world of money is money - but it quickly turns into an abstract meters, as the monopoly money. It is a symbol of cleverness, wit, foresight and insight.

Workaholics identify business with pleasure. They are the embodiment of pleasure principle. They make the class of entrepreneurs, managers, business people. They are the movers, shakers, the pushers, the energy. Without them we have socialist economies, in which everything belongs to everyone, and actually to none. In these economies of "collective property" the people to go to work because they must try to prevent sabotage at the workplace, they harbour negative feelings. Slowly, they wither and die (professionally) - because no one can live long in hatred and delusion. Joy is an essential ingredient.

And this is the true meaning of capitalism: the abolition of work and leisure and the pursuit of both with the same zeal and satisfaction. In particular, the (rising) freedom to do when, where, with whom you choose. Unless and until the Homo East Europeansis series of changes his mind - there will be no real change. Because transition happens in the human mind much before they form in reality. It makes no sense at all to dictate to legislate, finance, to cajole, to offer - the man has to change. It was Marx (a devout non-capitalist), said: It is the awareness that reality. How right he was. Witness the U.S. and witnessed the miserable failure of the communism.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Vaknin,_Ph.D.

Workaholics need life balance
more peace, joy, and the time to dance
Unfortunately they slave away at home
their noses to the grindstone
They work tirelessly and angry
Pushing through tasks aggressive
always done things diligently
delegate and use of human
easy fight for them consistently
Angrily alienating people foolishly
You never enjoy their lives fully
Non-distracted by her family
never friendly to their secretary
to their children's ball game
When it reluctantly to the outside, but inwardly
Going absent on the day night with wives reluctantly
Workaholics usually behave in the most smugly
constantly exuding their great superiority
Ironically never hide their feelings inconspicuous
fixed professionally
distant and not eager relational
It seems, friends and family are only
Another trophy to project their identity
Use help their image in society
appear polished, capable of and carefully
celebrities, wealthy and important
wealthy, prosperous and abundant
In the delicate, elegant things in life
Never mind their return home armed
Because of their permanent work schedule
The workaholic has no time for upheaval
neither relational listen and shovel
Heartfelt feelings an emotional pit
Therefore, they work nonstop and never quit
preference tend to neglect and bury it
Avoid recognition is a painful truth
You stumble relational
is grossly unkind, so no time to the most sublime performance
intangible blessing for mankind
Namely, love and life given liberal
A personal freewill, generous contribution
These selfless love births
a revolution in the heart of every human being there
touch It seems quite expensive, but adds so much
Moneter it is the least
of expenses, only one time investment
Bringing unfathomable esteem
Priceless integration and accumulation
Inner richness and joyous miracle
disposing of injustice workaholics blunders.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Davis