ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how the institutionalist view of human behavior and the related critique of the neoclassical labor market elucidate our understanding of the societal division of labor. It presents the institutionalist view of human behavior. This view focuses on Thorstein Veblen's contention that labor is not irksome and that neoclassical theory is subverted by the realization that humankind possesses an instinct for workmanship. The institutionalist method is then used to comment on the inability of both workers and employers to obtain optimal work hours. In an effort to anticipate the future of work time, the analysis concludes with an examination of the history of work hours and current work time trends. In the neoclassical constructs of economic behavior, the aversion to work is a central characteristic of "economic man." In the neoclassical labor market, firms hire labor up to the point at which wages equal marginal products.
