many subsistence economies long before our industrial or even civilized age(s) began had "work weeks" much shorter than 40 hours. of course back then "work" and "life" were not separate spheres.
That is of course true. But what is to be done about it?
Thing is, no one actually wants to spend their winters shacked up with their relatives in a state of semi-hibernation. As was common in some places as recently as the first half of the nineteenth century, of course. Because that's the sort of thing that's the trade-off for hardly working most of the year (with brief periods of extreme activity). So even if you could do anything about, who would actually want to?
I'm not married but if I ever do get married I can see how work would be a great place to hang out for about 8 hrs a day. Cooped up in a suburban McMansion with a woman and children for days on end?! Errr... no thanks.
