The idea that society might work less in order to enjoy life more goes against standard thinking that celebrates the virtue and discipline of hard work. Dedication to work, so the argument goes, is the best route to prosperity. There is also the idea that work offers the opportunity for self-realisation, adding to any material benefits from work. “Do what you love” in work, we are told, and success will follow.

But this ideology is based on a myth that work can always set us free and provide us with the basis for a good life. As I have written previously, this fails to confront – indeed it conceals – the acute hardships of much work performed in modern society. For many, work is about doing “what you hate”.