
Time, Work and Leisure
Life Changes in England Since 1700
Hugh Cunningham(Author)
Manchester University Press
Published on 20. June 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-78499-355-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book traces the history of the relationship between work and leisure, from the 'leisure preference' of male workers in the eighteenth century, through the increase in working hours in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, to their progressive decline from 1830 to 1970. It examines how trade union action was critical in achieving the decline; how class structured the experience of leisure; how male identity was shaped by both work and leisure; how, in a society that placed high value on work, a 'leisured class' was nevertheless at the apex of political and social power - until it became thought of as 'the idle rich'. Coinciding with the decline in working hours, two further tranches of time were marked out as properly without work: childhood and retirement.
Accessible, wide-ranging and occasionally polemical, this book provides the first history of how we have imagined and used time. -- .
Accessible, wide-ranging and occasionally polemical, this book provides the first history of how we have imagined and used time. -- .
Reviews / Votes
Time, Work and Leisure is a pleasure to read, and should find a wide audience, including undergraduate students and even policymakers. Cunningham strikes a good balance between descriptive narrative and a Thompsonian use of a wider range of primary sources, from poetry to first-hand narratives to employer screeds, workers' time-diaries, and government statistics. Moreover, he does an excellent job historically contextualizing present concerns about how we spend our time. -- Jamie Bronstein. Labour/Le Travail, Volume 76More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
371 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78499-355-9 (9781784993559)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
Manchester University Press
from
€31.99
Available for download

E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
Manchester University Press
€31.99
Available for download
Person
Hugh Cunningham is Emeritus Professor of Social History at the University of Kent -- .
Content
1. Introduction
2. Time and society in the eighteenth century
3. Leisure preference and its critics, 1700-1850
4. Leisure and class, 1750-1850
5. Work time in decline, 1830-1970
6. Men, work and leisure, 1850-1970
7. The leisured class, 1840-1970
8. Towards 'work-life balance'
Conclusion
Select bibliography
Index -- .
2. Time and society in the eighteenth century
3. Leisure preference and its critics, 1700-1850
4. Leisure and class, 1750-1850
5. Work time in decline, 1830-1970
6. Men, work and leisure, 1850-1970
7. The leisured class, 1840-1970
8. Towards 'work-life balance'
Conclusion
Select bibliography
Index -- .