How busyness became the new status symbol
“忙碌”是如何成为一种新的地位象征的？
Whom do you hold in higher regard: Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, politicians known for often working from early morning until late at night; or Keir Starmer, the new U.K. Prime Minister, who declared he wouldn’t work past 6 p.m. on Fridays, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, who took a few weeks off after her re-election in June?
你认为这些人当中谁更值得敬重：是那些从早到晚忙碌不停的政治家，如吉米·卡特（Jimmy Carter）与巴拉克·奥巴马（Barack Obama）；还是宣称周五下午六点之后便不再工作的英国新任首相基尔·斯塔默（Keir Starmer）；抑或是六月再度当选欧盟委员会主席后，选择休假数周的乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩（Ursula von der Leyen）？
The answer is an obvious one in America. Busyness and a lack of leisure time have become pervasive status symbols in the U.S. that most people attribute to higher social status individuals.
在美国，这个答案不言而喻。大多数美国人都把忙碌不暇视作一种身份地位的象征，认为这恰是社会地位更高的人具备的特征。
Historically, working long hours didn't generate admiration.
然而在历史长河中，长时间工作的人并不受敬重。
In ancient Greece, free men had only contempt for work, while slaves performed labor.
在古希腊，自由人对工作嗤之以鼻（译者注：自由人是指在古代社会中没有被奴役、享有个人自由和权利的人），劳作的任务交由奴隶承担。
In ancient Rome, otium, the Latin word signifying freedom from work and leisure time, was a dear activity to the wealthy Patricians who could happily afford not to work for a living.
在古罗马，富裕的贵族们无需为生计奔波，而是追求无需工作、享受闲暇的日常活动（拉丁语称为“otium”）。
Fast forward to the 19th century, and the American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen proposed that “conspicuous abstention from labor … becomes the conventional mark of superior pecuniary achievement,” whereas “labor is a mark of poverty and subjection, inconsistent with a reputable standing in the community.”
到了19世纪，美国经济学家和社会学家托斯坦·凡勃伦（Thorstein Veblen）指出，“可以明确地拒绝劳动……成为了经济富裕的传统象征”，而“劳动则是贫穷和屈服的标志，与社区里受人尊敬的地位格格不入。”
In the series Downton Abbey, Countess Violet Crawley even asks with a curious tone, “What is a weekend?” An upper crust British woman in the early 20th century was too aristocratic to even recognize the concept of a week divided by work and leisure.
在英剧《唐顿庄园》中，维奥莱特·克劳利伯爵夫人甚至好奇地问道：“周末是什么？”这反映出20世纪初，英国上流社会的女性贵族化程度极高，甚至不知道一周会被分为工作日和休息日。
What a difference a few decades makes.
数十年的光阴过去，却带来了翻天覆地的变化。
Elon Musk, the wealthiest person on the planet, portrays himself as a workaholic, working 80 to 100 hours per week.
身为全球首富的埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）自诩为工作狂人，每周要工作80到100小时。
Celebrities brag about their busyness and crazy work schedules on social media.
众多名人也纷纷在社交媒体上吹嘘自己忙碌的日常和疯狂的工作日程。
In fact, a paper from the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that a century of declining work hours in America began to reverse around 1970, particularly among highly educated, high wage men.
事实上，非营利组织美国国家经济研究局（National Bureau of Economic Research）的一则报告指出，美国人的工作时长在经历一个世纪的下降后，自1970年左右出现逆转，这一现象在高学历、高收入的男性群体中尤为明显。
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau also suggests that the highest earners work the longest hours.
美国人口普查局（U.S. Census Bureau）的最新调查数据同样表明，高薪人群的工作时间也是最长的。
Part of this monumental shift is down to the rise of knowledge-intensive economies.
这一巨大转变的部分原因在于知识密集型经济的崛起。
Labor markets are increasingly highly structured and competitive, where human capital is one of the most prized economic assets.
劳动力市场日益呈现出高度结构化的特征，竞争异常激烈，其中人力资本成为了最宝贵的经济资源之一。
On the supply side, workers invest heavily in their education and skill development, recognizing that their human capital is their most marketable resource.
从供给端来看，劳动者意识到知识资本是市场中最具竞争力的资源，因而在自身教育和技能培养上投入巨大。
On the demand side, companies, institutions, and headhunters compete to attract and retain top talent and the best brains.
而在需求端，企业、机构和猎头竞相吸引顶尖人才，力求留住最优秀的脑力资源。
All of this has helped usher in an environment where long work hours have become a status symbol; a way for individuals to demonstrate their worth.
上述因素共同营造了一个新的环境，在这个环境中，长时间工作不仅成为一种身份地位的象征，更是个人彰显自身价值的一种方式。
In the past, working hard in economic systems that were mostly based on less-skilled agriculture and manufacturing may have been perceived as virtuous; but it may not have implied an individual was in high demand. But long hours of work and busyness today do.
在过去以低技能农业和制造业为主的经济体系中，努力工作或许被视为一种美德，却未必代表一个人的市场吸引力。然而在今天，长时间的工作和忙碌则确实成为了衡量个人价值与市场竞争力的重要尺标。
Returning to the example of politicians’ lifestyles, it is perhaps no coincidence that the first set of politicians are American, and the second set European.
回到开头提到的政治家生活方式的例子上，第一组忙碌不暇的政治家是美国人，而第二组选择平衡工作与生活的则是欧洲人，这或许并非巧合。
There are indeed important cultural differences in how societies esteem and attribute status to busyness and long hours of work.
不同社会之间存在巨大的文化差异，在看待忙碌和长时间工作与社会地位的关系时，各有不同的观点。
Specifically, a productivity orientation (the chronic concern of being productive, making progress, and achieving more in less time), perceived social mobility, and the belief that hard work leads to success and social affirmation correlate positively with admiring long hours of work.
具体而言，如果一个社会是以生产力为导向（即持续关注提高生产力、取得进展以及在更短时间内完成更多工作）、社会阶级流动性强，且认为努力工作能够带来成功和社会认可，那么这个社会就更有可能崇尚长时间工作。
My research finds that these dimensions are generally higher in American society than in continental Europe.
我的研究发现，以上这几个维度在美国社会中的体现普遍高于欧洲大陆。
It is intriguing that many people view a busy lifestyle as aspirational and associate it with status, despite the widely acknowledged downsides of an overworked lifestyle on happiness, well-being, and health. ***
然而，耐人寻味的是，尽管人们普遍认识到过度劳累的生活方式对幸福感、身心健康有负面影响，仍然有许多人将忙碌的生活方式视为理想状态，并将其视为社会地位的象征。
Furthermore, working long hours does not necessarily translate into higher productivity.
此外，长时间工作并不一定就能转化为更高的生产力。
Many argue that the pace of life has become so fast that we may gradually return to praising leisure time and admiring slower lifestyles as status symbols.
许多人认为，随着生活节奏日益加快，我们可能会慢慢重新重视闲暇时光，将慢节奏的生活方式视为地位象征。
In recent years, many professionals, especially younger ones, are seeking deceleration at work, questioning the pre-pandemic workaholic lifestyles, demanding shorter and more flexible work schedules, and carving out more leisure time.
近年来，许多专业人才，尤其是年轻一代，正积极寻求工作节奏的放缓，质疑疫情前“工作狂”的生活方式，转而要求更短、更灵活的工作时间，以换取更多的闲暇时光。
Trends like the “great resignation” and the “leisure renaissance” see Gen Zers bragging about quitting their jobs on social media rather than celebrating promotions.
诸如“大辞职潮”和“闲暇复兴”等趋势表明（译者注：“great resignation”是指自2021年起，许多人因对工作不满、追求更好的工作条件或生活质量而选择辞职的现象；“leisure renaissance”则是指人们开始重视闲暇时间和生活质量的趋势），Z世代（译者注：通常指1997年至2012年出生的人）在社交媒体上更愿意晒出辞职决定，而不是庆祝升职。
Could this signal a reversal toward valuing leisure as much as in the past?
这是否预示着人们将重新像过去一样重视闲暇时间了呢？
Considering that I am willingly writing this piece in the middle of summer holidays and supposedly on leave from work, I, for one, certainly hope so.
考虑到我在本应休假的暑假期间却自愿撰写了这篇文章，就我个人而言，我当然希望如此。
Yet optimism is not enough and some of these trends may be fleeting.
然而，光有乐观态度是不够的，其中一些趋势可能只是昙花一现。
Almost a century ago, the influential English economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that technological advancements would reduce our workweek to just 15 hours by 2028, but that vision is clearly not materializing.
近一个世纪前，著名的英国经济学家约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯（John Maynard Keynes）预测，到2028年，技术进步将使我们一周的工作时间缩短至只有15小时，但这一愿景显然没有实现。
As Generative Artificial Intelligence enhances our productivity and efficiency at work, will we use the extra time to enjoy our lives, or will we simply cram more tasks into an already overloaded schedule, seeking a sense of importance? ***
如今，随着生成式人工智能的兴起，我们的工作生产力和效率得到了显著提升，我们是利用这额外的时间来享受生活，还是在已经拥挤的日程当中再添重担，仅仅为了寻求一种充实感呢？