[ExI] arrested for what?

[Anders Sandberg]

On 24/12/2012 20:37, Henriks Gmail wrote:
> So all vacations and worktime control in sweden is based on a systematic exploition of workers. Not sending the employees to rest and have fun outside work is bad for production results.
> All that human rights yada is a nice afterthought.

Well, the declaration was made in 1948. While human factors and 
scientific management were around by then (Taylor was active in the 19th 
century) I don't think the studies of post-holiday efficiency were done 
by then. If there was any coldly rational reasons for article 23 it was 
likely based on a lay understanding that workers do need rest. Ford 
instituted the five day work week in 1926, and by 1940 it had become 
universal in the US. Note that it talks about holidays: it might also 
have been motivated by the freedom of religion rights.

One could argue that almost anything in society is intended to exploit 
people. Just as one can argue it is intended to do social signalling to 
allow status games. The exact mix of reasons is usually a jumble.

But one practical method to analyse things is to check whether reversing 
the policy or institution would produce a better result. If we removed 
paid holidays and people had to work to burnout, would we get a less 
exploited workforce?

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University