Why Do We Need a Four-day Workweek? Three Discourses on the Necessity of a Four-day Workweek and Their Interactions

Publikation: KonferencebidragPaperForskning

Abstract

Within the last couple of years, there has been a call for a move to a four-day workweek with reduced work hours, e.g. from 40 to 32 hours (Campbell, 2022; Jahal et al., 2024; Abildgaard, 2024). Media stories on the topic often reoccur in European and US newspapers, and there have been various successful trials in the private and public sectors in countries like Ireland, the UK, Germany, South Africa, Spain, and Denmark, to name a few (Jahal et al., 2024). Likewise, in academia, the topic of the four-day workweek has gained traction among social policy scholars (Chung, 2022), political scientists (Spencer, 2024), economists (Burchell et al., 2024), management and organisation scholars (Pedersen et al., 2024), gender scholars (Mullens and Glorieux, 2024), and work-environment scholars (Gleerup et al., 2023). However, the motives and arguments surrounding the adoption of a four-day workweek with reduced hours are far from monolithic. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of discourses and practices (1996), we identify three distinct and diverse discourses invoked when advocating for a four-day workweek. Specifically, we outline three discourses that propose a reduced workweek with reduced work hours combined with no corresponding wage decrease: a well-being discourse, a productivity discourse and a political discourse. We argue that these discourses can complement and contradict each other, and their application varies among politicians, employers, unions, and employees, adding to the complexity of the debate.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Publikationsdato2024
Antal sider12
StatusUdgivet - 2024
Begivenhed11th Nordic Working Life Conference: Nordic Working Life at a Crossroad? - Roskilde University, Roskilde, Danmark
Varighed: 14 aug. 202416 aug. 2024
Konferencens nummer: 11
https://events.ruc.dk/nwlc2024

Konference

Konference11th Nordic Working Life Conference
Nummer11
LokationRoskilde University
Land/OmrådeDanmark
ByRoskilde
Periode14/08/202416/08/2024
Internetadresse

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