there was actually a study done that confirmed to an extent that first point! at least in america, the average american worker DOES work more than the average medieval peasant. the church made it a point to give them holidays and time off, and even when they were “clocked in” there was still allotted leisure time. a couple more sensationalized articles say it was for the sole purpose of preventing rebellion from the lower class, but as i’m skimming more scholarly/peer reviewed stuff i’m not seeing it pop up.
all that being said, it’s not like their actual quality of life was stellar. no their food wasn’t better (there’s absolutely no way their primitive baking and unseasoned food is even GOOD probably), and no their houses weren’t bigger. they still faced a lot of hardship! so for me, the logical conclusion isn’t “they had better lives” because they worked less. but it is DEFINITELY concerning to see that at least one aspect — amount of leisure time for workers — is worse now than it was in one of the most oppressive systems humans have pulled off. like u really tellin me the church who barely acknowledged its subjects as people actually still saw them enough as people to give them needed rest?? and social time?? and leisure??? and we have LESS time to do that NOW?? that’s fuckin BULLSHIT.
anyways as a history person who sees lots of parallels between the social structures of medieval europe and modern day america, i just had to at least put a lil something out there about it
_-_Stardust_-_ on October 19th, 2019 at 16:27 UTC »
Had 10 kids in the hopes one or two would survive infancy.
poohbear98_ on October 19th, 2019 at 17:08 UTC »
there was actually a study done that confirmed to an extent that first point! at least in america, the average american worker DOES work more than the average medieval peasant. the church made it a point to give them holidays and time off, and even when they were “clocked in” there was still allotted leisure time. a couple more sensationalized articles say it was for the sole purpose of preventing rebellion from the lower class, but as i’m skimming more scholarly/peer reviewed stuff i’m not seeing it pop up.
all that being said, it’s not like their actual quality of life was stellar. no their food wasn’t better (there’s absolutely no way their primitive baking and unseasoned food is even GOOD probably), and no their houses weren’t bigger. they still faced a lot of hardship! so for me, the logical conclusion isn’t “they had better lives” because they worked less. but it is DEFINITELY concerning to see that at least one aspect — amount of leisure time for workers — is worse now than it was in one of the most oppressive systems humans have pulled off. like u really tellin me the church who barely acknowledged its subjects as people actually still saw them enough as people to give them needed rest?? and social time?? and leisure??? and we have LESS time to do that NOW?? that’s fuckin BULLSHIT.
anyways as a history person who sees lots of parallels between the social structures of medieval europe and modern day america, i just had to at least put a lil something out there about it
dukeofmadnessmotors on October 19th, 2019 at 17:59 UTC »
I'll make a deal - this guy gets to go back 1000 years if I get to go forward 1000 years.