Time and Work in England 1750-1830
Published on 1. February 2001
Book
Hardback
312 pages
978-0-19-924194-1 (ISBN)
Description
Did working hours in England increase as a result of the Industrial Revolution? Marx said so, and so did E. P. Thompson; but where was the evidence to support this belief? Literary sources are difficult to interpret, wage books are few and hardly representative, and clergymen writing about the sloth of their flock did little to validate their complaints. In this important and innovative study Hans-Joachim Voth for the first time provides rigorously analysed statistical data. He calls more than 2,800 witnesses to the bar of history to answer the question: 'what were you doing at the time of the crime?'. Using these court records, he is able to build six datasets for both rural and urban areas over the period 1750 to 1830 to reconstruct patterns of leisure and labour. Dr Voth is able to show that over this period England did indeed begin to work harder - much harder. By the 1830s, both London and the northern counties of England had experienced a considerable increase - about 20 per cent - in annual working hours. What drove the change was not longer hours per day, but the demise of 'St Monday' and a plethora of religious and political festivals.
Reviews / Votes
Voth's book lends powerful support to the new view of the industrial revolution. EH.Net Reviews Time and Work in England 1750-1830 brings both new evidence and a new approach to this celebrated issue. EH.Net Reviews Voth builds up a fascinating picture of changing work and leisure patterns in the second half of the eighteenth century ... we must admire the imagination and rigour demonstrated in the research behind this book. English Historical Review Hans-Joachim Voth's Time and Work contains important and impressive quantitive research into a crucial dimension of social change in eighteenth-century England. It demonstrates an imaginative use of familiar sources to make an invaluable contribution to one of the great debates in the historiography of industrialization. English Historical Review This is a fine book. Innovative, insightful, awesomely efficient, it encompasses both small detail and big picture. It will surely be one of the most influential books ever written both on the industrial revolution and on the issue of time use ... probably a masterpiece of econometric history. Social History Society Bulletin Should be read by anyone interested in the history of time use, the industrial revolution, and the uses (and limits) of econometric history ... Voth proceeds to construct one of the most impressive bodies of historical data ever seen. Social History Society Bulletin Original and useful ideas are infrequent in economics or in history. Most of us have to make do by appropriating from others and repackaging. But this book develops an idea that is both novel and ingenious. The author deserves much praise. Journal of Economic History This is a stimulating and challenging new study that will do much to reshape our understanding of the industrial revolution. Contemporary ReviewMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
fig.
45 figures
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 138 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-19-924194-1 (9780199241941)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
1. Time and the Industrial Revolution; 2. Method; 3. Patterns of Time Use 1750-1830; 4. Causes and Consequences; 5. Comparisons and Conclusion