It's certainly done a remarkable job so far. On Usenet a few years ago I satirically supposed that, if certain forms of supposed anarchist behavior became popular, someone would start selling pre-broken store windows. I was informed that I was behind the times; they were already available. I've read that someone tried to start a Communism theme park in Lithuania.
In reference to the 8-hour day, I'm just going from phenomena. Per capita productivity has grown to be several times what is was when the 8-hour day became common, yet the work week was not shortened. So I look for a mechanism to explain that, especially in view of the fact that so many people claim they don't like their jobs, don't like to work at all, want more time off, want a different job, and so on. I don't think the 8-hour day was a conscious plot on the part of the ruling class, but once in place it served a purpose. We can observe that capitalists need scarcity to maintain the value of their stock in trade and thus their social position and power, and that consumerism is an important method of creating scarcity, and that the workers need time to work at consuming. The combination of elements points toward giving the worker plenty of time to practice consumption.
The fact the Americans now work longer hours, while the European work week has shortened, suggests that American consumption has become more efficient -- that is, Americans need less time to get rid of their money and use up the goods and services it buys than Europeans do. Individuals would experience this by running short of money sooner and more often, motivating them to put in more time at the office in hopes of getting a promotion, or at least avoiding being a victim of the next layoff. Their office colleagues and competitors would then experience pressure to keep up with them. On the other side, the employer would experience more people willing to work for less under worse conditions, yet sales would be better. However, I don't know the particulars of this increased efficiency of consumption. The SUV and the suburban and exurban sprawlopolis are miracles of modern social engineering for useless consumption and waste, and yet the the designers of the miracles are anonymous (as far as I know). Or maybe they, too, just happened to happen and were found good in the sight of the ruling balance sheets and reinforced.
(The rise of the SUV seems to have something to do with increased traffic and hours on the road, which makes people feel oppressed and frightened when they drive (very reasonably), leading in turn to expressions of defense (selection of the rounded, shell-like minivan) or aggression (the jeep/truck/tank-like SUV). Car makers are well aware of these feelings and desires and hasten to exploit them, but do not seem to have thought them up in the first place.)
-- Gordon