Yet in his attack on the work ethic, Mr. Hunnicutt, who has certainly found his calling as a professor of leisure studies, ignores a major reason it survives. Paid labor has been and can still be a creative force, as well as an endless imposition. At times, machinists and journalists, nurses and teachers, priests, union organizers and many other workers tolerate long hours when their jobs are challenging, dramatic or essential to helping people they know and like. Mr. Hunnicutt doesn't explore whether some of the Kellogg men who favored eight hours were skilled craftsmen who found their work more pleasing than did the six-hour women, who were usually assigned to repetitive tasks. But more time off is not a sufficient response.
Automation can, over time, eliminate the most tedious occupations.