{"id":15333,"date":"2024-07-17T10:13:23","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T10:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1408552"},"modified":"2024-07-17T10:13:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T10:13:23","slug":"what-the-jetsons-got-right-and-wrong-about-the-future-of-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=15333","title":{"rendered":"What The Jetsons got right and wrong about the future of\u00a0work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sixty years ago the animated series <a href=\"https:\/\/americanhistory.si.edu\/collections\/search\/object\/nmah_1887791\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Jetsons<\/a> finished its first and only season before being cancelled. Just 24 episodes were broadcast between September 1962 and March 1963. Despite this, the cartoon has achieved huge influence in popular culture, with countless reruns, a reboot in the mid-1980s (51 episodes over two seasons) and a feature-length <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0099878\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">movie<\/a> in 1990.<\/p>\n<p>The Jetsons was created by the Hanna-Barbara animation studio in Los Angeles as a futuristic version of the studio\u2019s hit series The Flintstones, the first cartoon series to gain a prime-time slot.<\/p>\n<p>But whereas The Flintstones was set in a distant, mythical stone age thousands of years in the past, The Jetsons was set in a very near future \u2014 in 2062.<\/p>\n<p>Like The Flintstones, the show was aimed mostly at children and played with ideas about the future for laughs. It\u2019s not a serious work of futurology. Even so, it\u2019s still an interesting cultural artefact, helping us appreciate our present and our expectations of the future.<\/p>\n<p>The first episode was broadcast just a few weeks after US President John F. Kennedy gave his famous \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rice.edu\/kennedy#:%7E:text=We%20choose%20to%20go%20to%20the%20moon%20in%20this%20decade,to%20postpone%2C%20and%20one%20which\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Moon speech<\/a>,\u201d promising, \u201cto go to the Moon in this decade and do things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><iframe srcdoc=\"\n\n<style>*{padding:0;margin:0;overflow:hidden}html,body{background:#000;height:100%}img{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;transition:opacity .1s cubic-bezier(0.4,0,1,1)}a:hover img+img{opacity:1!important}<\/style>\n<p><a href='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cnWDXA4MQHE?feature=oembed&amp;autoplay=1&amp;mute=1&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;theme=light&amp;playsinline=1'><img src='https:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/cnWDXA4MQHE\/hqdefault.jpg'><img src='https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/themes\/cyberdelia\/assets\/img\/ytplaybtn.png' style='top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)'><img src='https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/themes\/cyberdelia\/assets\/img\/ytplaybtn-hover.png' style='top: 50%;left:50%;width:68px;height:48px;opacity:0;transform:translate3d(-50%,-50%,0)'><\/a>&#8221; width=&#8221;440&#8243; height=&#8221;260&#8243; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8243; allowfullscreen=&#8221;allowfullscreen&#8221;>[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">The Jetsons\u2019 title sequence.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While that promise was motivated by fears of the Soviet Union winning the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/americanexperience\/features\/moon-space-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Space Race<\/a>, the future depicted is mostly optimistic. Technology holds the promise of a better world.<\/p>\n<p>Among the whimsical <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tech<\/a>nologies imagined are flying cars, robot maids, video calls, smartwatches, food printing and space tourism. Some of this seems <a href=\"https:\/\/au.pcmag.com\/computers-electronics\/95419\/5-modern-technologies-the-jetsons-accurately-predicted-60-years-ago\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">far-sighted<\/a>. But there are big blind spots. Those flying cars, for example, still need a driver.<\/p>\n<p>There are three things its creators got glaringly wrong: the place of women in the workforce, how much we will work, and where we work.<\/p>\n<h2>Gender stereotypes<\/h2>\n<p>Like The Flintstones, The Jetsons revolves around a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/topics\/social-sciences\/extended-family\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">nuclear family<\/a> in a mid-20th century industrialised society. There\u2019s George (aged about 40), his wife Jane (about 33), their teenage daughter Judy (15), their younger son Elroy, a dog named Astro, and a robot maid.<\/p>\n<p>We can calculate that Jane was still in her teens when she became a mother. She\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/thejetsons.fandom.com\/wiki\/Jane_Jetson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">head of a recycling company<\/a> but it doesn\u2019t seem to involve much work. For most part, she\u2019s a typical TV homemaker.<\/p>\n<p>This is now the norm in only a small number of societies. It seems unlikely the trend in women\u2019s workforce participation will reverse in the next 40 years.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1408560 js-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/Screenshot-2024-07-17-at-11.18.50-AM.png\" alt=\"Labour force refers to all persons of working age who are employed and those who are unemployed. The labour force participation rate expresses the labour force as a percentage of the working-age population.Map: The Conversation Source: International Labour Organization Get the data Created with Datawrapper\" width=\"1260\" height=\"778\"><figcaption>Labour force refers to all persons of working age who are employed and those who are unemployed. The labour force participation rate expresses the labour force as a percentage of the working-age population.<br \/>Map: The Conversation Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/webapps.ilo.org\/infostories\/en-GB\/Stories\/Employment\/barriers-women#global-gap\/gap-labour-force\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">International Labour Organization<\/a> Get the data Created with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.datawrapper.de\/_\/QKh7r\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Datawrapper<\/a><\/figcaption><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1408560\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2024\/07\/Screenshot-2024-07-17-at-11.18.50-AM.png\" alt=\"Labour force refers to all persons of working age who are employed and those who are unemployed. The labour force participation rate expresses the labour force as a percentage of the working-age population.Map: The Conversation Source: International Labour Organization Get the data Created with Datawrapper\" width=\"1260\" height=\"778\"><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<p>Had the show been made a decade later it\u2019s possible the influence of the women\u2019s liberation movement and books, such as Germain Greer\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/friday-essay-the-female-eunuch-at-50-germaine-greers-fearless-feminist-masterpiece-147437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Female Eunuch<\/a> (published in 1970), would have altered this vision of 2062.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1990 movie, for example, Jane is an environmental activist. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dc.com\/graphic-novels\/the-jetsons-2017\/the-jetsons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">2017 relaunched comic<\/a> she is a scientist working on the International Space Station.<\/p>\n<h2>Working hours<\/h2>\n<p>One explanation as to why Jane doesn\u2019t work is that George, the breadwinner, barely has to work either.<\/p>\n<p>He goes to work just two days a week, for one hour a day, as a \u201cdigital index operator.\u201d This involves him pushing buttons to maintain an atomic supercomputer named RUDI (short for \u201cReferential Universal Digital Indexer\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>George\u2019s working hours reflect the optimism of the 1960s that gains made by workers in the first half of the 20th century \u2014 with a 40-hour, five-day workweek becoming the norm by the 1950s \u2014 would continue in the second half of the century. Optimists hoped productivity gains from automation would mean a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/233128150_The_leisure_society_I_myths_and_misconceptions_1960-1979\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">leisure society<\/a>\u201d by the year 2000.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center \">\n<figure class=\"post-image post-mediaBleed aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/519731\/original\/file-20230406-26-znvvn.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/519731\/original\/file-20230406-26-znvvn.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=419&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/519731\/original\/file-20230406-26-znvvn.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=419&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/519731\/original\/file-20230406-26-znvvn.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=419&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/519731\/original\/file-20230406-26-znvvn.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=527&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/519731\/original\/file-20230406-26-znvvn.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=527&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/519731\/original\/file-20230406-26-znvvn.png?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=527&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\" alt=\"George Jetson at work.\" width=\"600\" height=\"419\"><figcaption>George Jetson at work. Hanna-Barbera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<p>This has not been the case, with only marginal reductions in working hours for most since then.<\/p>\n<p>As US economist and sociologist Juliet Schor noted in her 1991 book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/40721366\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure<\/a>, the idea that technology alone can lead to working less fails to account for the economic system in which work is done. That is, capitalism is geared towards increasing consumption (and thereby profits). The emphasis has therefore been on making more money as the key to happiness, and thereby working even harder, not less.<\/p>\n<p>We can see this even in the current four-day week movement, which promises the prospect of cutting the 38-hour, five-day workweek to 32 hours and four days, but only so long as the same productivity is maintained.<\/p>\n<p>Trials of this 100:80:100 model (100% of the pay, 80% of the hours, 100% of the productivity) have been heralded a great success, but as work researcher Anthony Veal <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/4-day-work-week-trials-have-been-labelled-a-resounding-success-but-4-big-questions-need-answers-201476\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">has noted<\/a>, questions remain as to whether these results are applicable across the economy.<\/p>\n<p>At this stage, the likelihood of a significant reduction in working hours for most people over the next 40 years looks dubious.<\/p>\n<h2>Remote work<\/h2>\n<p>Although George only has to work two hours a week, he still has to go to an office (at Spacely Space Sprockets) to push his buttons.<\/p>\n<p>This may reflect the fact the internet and the personal computing revolution were yet to occur. Futurologists didn\u2019t start enthusing about the prospects of remote working until the 1970s.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly, that\u2019s just how things were conceived \u2014 work was something done under the watchful eye of management. It also created opportunities to play with familiar motifs involving George\u2019s boss, the short-tempered Mr. Spacely, a character similar to Fred Flintstone\u2019s boss, Mr. Slate, and Mr. Burns in The Simpsons.<\/p>\n<p>Management resistance to remote work was strong up until the COVID-19 pandemic forced a cultural shift.<\/p>\n<p>The future of where and how much we work will no doubt be shaped by technology. But our perceptions and expectations about what can be achieved are just as important.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/202608\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class=\"js-lazy\"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/202608\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" class><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/agustin-chevez-120649\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Agustin Chevez<\/a>, Workplace Futures Research Lead, Centre for the New Workforce., <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/swinburne-university-of-technology-767\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Swinburne University of Technology<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/what-the-jetsons-got-right-and-very-wrong-about-the-future-of-work-202608\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/jetsons-the-future-of-work\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sixty years ago the animated series The Jetsons finished its first and only season before being cancelled. Just 24 episodes were broadcast between September 1962 and March 1963. Despite this, the cartoon&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}