Hans Bayer: Review of Arbeitszeit und Freizeit (1964)

Hans Bayer’s brief journal review assesses the proceedings of the Nuremberg Hochschulwoche held on 8–10 February 1961. He presents the conference through a central tension: mechanization increases leisure while reducing opportunities for creative activity within work.

Die Nürnberger Tagung 1961 ging u. a. von der Einsicht aus, daß die zunehmende Mechanisierung immer weniger Menschen Gelegenheit gibt, ihre schöpferischen Fähigkeiten zu entfalten, und daß die Freizeit des einzelnen zunimmt.

English translation: The 1961 Nuremberg conference proceeded, among other things, from the recognition that increasing mechanization gives ever fewer people the opportunity to develop their creative abilities, and that the individual’s leisure time is increasing.

Bayer then singles out E. Tuchtfeldt’s contribution on the economic consequences of shorter working hours as providing direction for several other lectures. Tuchtfeldt locates the genuinely disputed questions increasingly in the sociocultural rather than the economic sphere. Bayer’s organizing move is to connect this shift with confidence in long-term productivity growth:

Gerade weil die langfristigen Entwicklungen der Produktivitätssteigerung optimistisch beurteilt werden können, gewinnen die außerökonomischen Probleme der Freizeit und ihrer Gestaltung an Bedeutung.

English translation: Precisely because the long-term trends in productivity growth can be assessed optimistically, the noneconomic problems of leisure and how it is shaped gain in importance.

The review accordingly emphasizes contributions on work, occupation and leisure; enjoyment of work and working hours; education; and personality and culture. It also notes the inclusion of business economics and job placement. Bayer offers a thematic orientation, not detailed judgments of individual contributions. His favorable conclusion gives the conference institutional significance: following the Hochschule’s merger with the University of Erlangen, this final Nuremberg Hochschulwoche provided a valuable conclusion to the series.