The history of the weekend - should they be longer?

In this episode, we take a look at something most of us take for granted – the two-day weekend. But are two days enough?

Brad Beavan is a professor in social and cultural history at the University of Portsmouth. As you’ll hear, even the weekend as we know it is a relatively new development in the western world. So how did we get to where we are today, how likely is it that we’ll be enjoying a four-day working week any time soon, and how do both employees and employers feel about it?

We’d love you to be part of the discussion, too. Email your questions on this episode or ideas for future episodes to [email protected].

You can also find out more about this work and other research at the University of Portsmouth website: https://www.port.ac.uk/research/ 

Life Solved is released every Thursday and available on all major podcast platforms.

USEFUL LINKS

History of the two-day weekend offers lessons for today’s calls for a four-day week: https://theconversation.com/history-of-the-two-day-weekend-offers-lessons-for-todays-calls-for-a-four-day-week-127382

4 Day Week: https://www.4dayweek.co.uk/

A short history of the two day weekend: https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2023/0309/1361274-weekend-two-days-off-history/

Professor Brad Beaven bio: https://www.port.ac.uk/about-us/structure-and-governance/our-people/our-staff/brad-beaven

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