Translated by Francesca Valsecchi The film “No Other Choice”, directed by Park Chan-wook, starts from a simple and alarming premise: a man, Man-su, loses his job and realises that he is not just losing a salary, but also a status, an identity and social recognition. The plot (adapted from the novel The Ax by Donald E. Westlake) turns soon into black satire, but the core remains realistic: when a job is the measure of human value, unemployment becomes public shame and personal crisis. The film follows the main character’s descent, trapped in a cruel competition to “go back to” the labour market, in a society which seems to give value only to who performs, earns and resists. In a system which measures the value of people only through performance, to stop is not allowed. There is no other choice. Not because there are no alternatives, but because culturally these are not considered adequate. The performance society: becoming someone at all costs The film turns into an effective metaphor, in which the economic and professional success is perceived as the only legitimate form of self-realisation. Working more, sacrificing time and health, “keep going” are becoming social virtues. On the other hand, slowing down or failing turn into a symbolic exclusion. This pressure does not only affect the job sphere, but it crosses the whole life path. Since university, many students experience the idea of having to “become someone” as a long-term commitment: notes, competition, cvs, familiar expectation. This results in a atmosphere of stress which anticipates and partially normalizes what will be coming next. Where people work too much: when excess becomes the norm The geography of overwork is wide and transversal, crossing emerging economies and highly developed countries. In countries like Mexico and Costa Rica, the working weeks are among the longest of the industrial world: over 2000 hours per year per worker. In the daily routine, this means extended working hours, frequent overtime and a balance between work and private life which is often fragile. Even more extreme is the situation in some spheres of Asia. Countries like India, Bangladesh, Cambogia and Bhutan register some of the longest average working weeks in the world, often far beyond 48 hours. Here the economic pressure, low salaries and the necessity of gaining as much as possible push millions of people to go beyond the limits considered safe by industrial medicine. Consequences are well noted: chronical strain, high stress, increase of injuries and reduction in healthy life expectancy. However, the performance society is not exclusively bound to developing economies. In countries like Japan and South Corea, official data show reduced weekly averages, around 40-43 hours. But behind this figures there is often a reality of systematic overtime, not always recorded, and a cultural pressure that rewards continuous presence, total availability and resistance to tiredness. In Japan, the concept of karōshi, which is death from overwork, has become the extreme symbol of a model that pushes body and mind beyond limits. In South Corea, only in recent years, legislative reforms have tried to check working hours that regularly used to exceed 50 hours. The invisible cost: mental and physical health The consequences of this continuous pressure are not invisible. The World Health Organisation recognises the burnout as a phenomenon which is bound to chronic unmanaged work stress, characterised by emotional exhaustion, detachment from work and reduced professional effectiveness. On the physical side, a study carried out by the WHO together with the International Labour Organisation has proved that working many hours per week is associated with an increased risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. In other words, overwork not only causes tiredness, but it can also shorten one’s life. Anxiety, insomnia, depression and loss of consciousness are more and more frequent in high-pressure contexts. This is the paradox of the performance society: the more people are asked to be productive, the less space is created to feel good. Who tries to change model In recent years, some countries have started questioning the idea that working more necessarily means working better. In Spain, the government has initiated a reform to reduce the legal weekly hour to 37,5 hours without pay cuts, with the aim to improve the quality of life. Scotland has experimented in the public sector the four-day working week, resulting in reduced stress levels and absenteeism. In Iceland, the reduction of working hours to 35-36 hours has become an international case study, showing that it is possible to work less without losing productivity. Other measures such as the right to disconnect, introduced in countries like France, originate from the same consciousness: work should not take up every aspect of life. Experiences of reducing working hours and protecting time have shown that alternatives do exist. The real question, nowadays, is not if it would be possible to work in a different way, but rather if we are willing to question the idea that we are only as good as what we produce. Mondo Internazionale APS - Riproduzione Riservata ® 2026 |