Work and leisure, between business culture and social organization
A historical and social fresco has been published on two concepts and ways of life that man has always retained
Working and not idling. Engaging in production first of all to achieve material well-being, but even before that, only to survive and then to live with dignity. Idleness as an activity for a select few and then for ‘busy ones’. Almost always, work and leisure have represented the two extremes of a mental attitude even before a practical one. And it is around work and idleness that the long series of investigations and interventions in the book “Idee di lavoro e di ozio per la nostra civiltà” (Ideas of work and idleness for our civilization) unfolds, published recently by Giovanni Mari, Francesco Ammannati, Stefano Brogi, Tiziana Faitini, Arianna Fermani, Francesco Seghezzi and Annalisa Tonarelli.
The book is a collection of ideas and analysis that ends up turning into a long journey into the past and present of the concepts of work and leisure: a sort of multi-coloured fresco that represents, in fact, an important portion of human life in every time and place.
The volume starts with a general synthesis of the topic that seeks to bring together the concepts of work (individual and social) with the very meaning of working, thus giving a sense to the whole work. In a first volume, a journey through history begins: first the servile work and intellectual idleness of the ancient age, then work and idleness in the Bible, then work at the time of the mechanical arts up to the 18th century of the Encyclopedia, then work in the industrial age and the emergence – only then – of the concept and practice of leisure. In a second volume, the investigation continues with a focus on “Fordist work” and the consequences of digitalization with the return, as in the ancient age, of idleness and its pursuit. The ‘journey’ between these two concepts then continues with an in-depth study dedicated to Italy.
The book edited by Giovanni Mari and his collaborators is not only an important collection of research essays, but a real journey to be made several times between two different ways and approaches of understanding life and production.
Idee di lavoro e di ozio per la nostra civiltà
Giovanni Mari, Francesco Ammannati, Stefano Brogi, Tiziana Faitini, Arianna Fermani, Francesco Seghezzi, Annalisa Tonarelli (edited by)
Firenze University Press, 2024
A historical and social fresco has been published on two concepts and ways of life that man has always retained
Working and not idling. Engaging in production first of all to achieve material well-being, but even before that, only to survive and then to live with dignity. Idleness as an activity for a select few and then for ‘busy ones’. Almost always, work and leisure have represented the two extremes of a mental attitude even before a practical one. And it is around work and idleness that the long series of investigations and interventions in the book “Idee di lavoro e di ozio per la nostra civiltà” (Ideas of work and idleness for our civilization) unfolds, published recently by Giovanni Mari, Francesco Ammannati, Stefano Brogi, Tiziana Faitini, Arianna Fermani, Francesco Seghezzi and Annalisa Tonarelli.
The book is a collection of ideas and analysis that ends up turning into a long journey into the past and present of the concepts of work and leisure: a sort of multi-coloured fresco that represents, in fact, an important portion of human life in every time and place.
The volume starts with a general synthesis of the topic that seeks to bring together the concepts of work (individual and social) with the very meaning of working, thus giving a sense to the whole work. In a first volume, a journey through history begins: first the servile work and intellectual idleness of the ancient age, then work and idleness in the Bible, then work at the time of the mechanical arts up to the 18th century of the Encyclopedia, then work in the industrial age and the emergence – only then – of the concept and practice of leisure. In a second volume, the investigation continues with a focus on “Fordist work” and the consequences of digitalization with the return, as in the ancient age, of idleness and its pursuit. The ‘journey’ between these two concepts then continues with an in-depth study dedicated to Italy.
The book edited by Giovanni Mari and his collaborators is not only an important collection of research essays, but a real journey to be made several times between two different ways and approaches of understanding life and production.
Idee di lavoro e di ozio per la nostra civiltà
Giovanni Mari, Francesco Ammannati, Stefano Brogi, Tiziana Faitini, Arianna Fermani, Francesco Seghezzi, Annalisa Tonarelli (edited by)
Firenze University Press, 2024