If we can measure how the members of a society spend their time, we have the elements of a certain sort of account of how that society works. This is what Jonathan Gershuny provides in Changing Times, using 120,000 survey-diary accounts of daily life in twenty countries from the 1960s on to construct an account of how time-use patterns have changed in the developed world over the last third of a century and to relate these changes to economic development. His analysis of the data and of existing theoretical approaches highlights, and goes some way to addressing, problems in the standard...

If we can measure how the members of a society spend their time, we have the elements of a certain sort of account of how that society works. This is what Jonathan Gershuny provides in Changing Times, using 120,000 survey-diary accounts of daily life in twenty countries from the 1960s on to construct an account of how time-use patterns have changed in the developed world over the last third of a century and to relate these changes to economic development. His analysis of the data and of existing theoretical approaches highlights, and goes some way to addressing, problems in the standard...

'The family' is a subject of enormous academic, political and popular interest. It is a central feature of most people's lives, the framework within which other relationships, activities and events take place. This unique study provides important new insights into the dynamics of Britain's social and economic life - in family structures and relationships; in employment and household incomes; in housing, health and political affiliations. Most previous research has been limited to measuring an individual or family's position only at the time of the interview. This book presents a clearer...