I fail to see the difference between working 8 hours a day farming land , fishing , and hunting , and working 8 hours a day for a wage in order to maintain one ' s own survival . The difference there is that there is nobody telling you how to fish , what order to do these tasks in etc . You are constrained by natural forces and your own necessities , but you can determine how you want to resolve those problems . Additionally , if you ' re talking about foraging societies at least , people on average do not spend as much time doing that work . The work itself can also be fulfilling in itself people hunt and weave baskets for recreation , and is generally not as monotonous . Working 8 hrs actually more , especially if you look at the global average is partly a result of excessive production and consumption , driven in large part by capitalism .