A ‘super’ working class is emerging made up of well-educated rich people who work longer hours than the poor and who do not see leisure time as preferable to the office, research suggests.
Oxford University has found that working hours for the rich have risen substantially since the 1960s.
Economists claim that as better educated people more away from manual jobs, work has become more satisfying both intellectually and emotionally, meaning they don’t feel the need for as much time off.
Whereas once leisure time was a symbol of social power, as typified by the 19th century gentleman, many high fliers today see it as a sign of indolence and unemployment.
“The best educated men used once to work much shorter hours for pay, an echo, still in the 1960s, of the end-of-the 19th century leisure-class ideology,” the report authors write.
“But by the beginning of the 21st century they are working the longest hours.”
The researchers said there was now a ‘superordinate working class’ which was turning human history on its head as traditionally the lower classes have worked the longest hours.
Hans-Joachim Voth of the University of Zurich found that in 1800 the average English worker laboured for 64 hours a week.
“In the 19th century you could tell how poor somebody was by how long they worked,” said Mr Voth.
In contrast the upper classes worked fewer hours, if at all, but filled their time with ‘worthy’ pursuits such as science, charitable activities, the arts or the law.
Now, researchers argue, those previously voluntary ‘exploits’ have become paid occupations. Scientists, sportsmen, artists and lawyers are all now paid handsomely for their work.
Although working hours have fallen overall in the past century and the well-educated have begun to work for longer hours than the poor.
In 1965 men with a university degree had slightly more leisure time than those who had left education after school. But by 2005 university graduates were working eight hours a week more.
Research by Arlie Russell-Hochschild of the University of California suggests that as work becomes more intellectually stimulating people start to enjoy it more than home life.
Oxford researchers also speculate that higher earnings make work seem increasingly more profitable than leisure time.
The trend is even more marked for women as educated females increasingly give up domestic duties and downtime for paid employment.
“The best educated women move much more determinedly out of the industrious category of routine housework,” the authors said.
“Better educated women everywhere, decade by decade, are stepping further and further away from the life by industriousness that had been a women’s lot from ancient days.”
The research was published as part of Oxford University’s Sociology Working Papers series.