A book recently published by Richard Sennett discusses the atmosphere of the typical 1970’s workplace in the UK.  Work was often hard and boring, sometimes dangerous; the bosses were frequently bullies, and the workers stuck together against the bosses.  Notwithstanding this companies were held together by what he calls the social triangle of management, workers and unions.  In  a crisis everyone worked together  and there was respect on most sides and civility in the way people were dealt with.

Nowadays , under flexible work practices and short-term contracts the loyalty of boss to worker and worker to boss has evaporated.  Long gone is the lifetime career, with training and promotion.   Sustained relationships, which build mutual cooperation have given way to an atmosphere where both sides are out for what they can get.  Economist Bennett Harrison blames ” impatient capital”, whose objective is faster and bigger returns.  This leads to shallow relationships, remote executives (who now have useless MBA’s and know nothing about man management) and intense feelings of the uselessness of many endeavours.

My experience in the 1970s was a company which was as much social as economic, indeed, maybe more so.  The jokes started at 8 a.m and finished in the pub at 9 in the evening. It was fun and funny and became a game in which the objective was customer satisfaction. This is not a “business model” that would be much in vogue today.

Which brings me to Epicureanism: it offers food for the brain, fun laughter,  and a social life that potentially counteracts the money-madness of the modern world.  The Epicurean garden cannot offer you an income , but it can offer a lively refuge.

(Richard Sennett, “Together: The Rituals , Pleasures and Politics of Co-operation”)