Afternoon Seminars@CMIST - Jonathan Gershuny (Oxford) - Post-industrious society: Why work time will not disappear for our grandchildren
| Dates: | 14 October 2014 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 17:15 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| Who is it for: | Current University students, University staff |
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| Speaker: | Jonathan Gershuny |
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In this Afternoon Seminars@CMIST event, Jonathan Gershuny from the University of Oxford (Sociology, Nuffield College) will deliver a talk entitled 'Post-industrious society: Why work time will not disappear for our grandchildren'.
Abstract
This paper provides a comprehensive discussion of the long-term evolution of time budgets in a range of economically developed democracies, summarising arguments about the changing balances of paid and unpaid work and leisure. It contrasts economists’ assumptions about the purely instrumental nature of work, with sociological and social-psychological arguments as to why we might want or need work in and for itself. It uses evidence from 16 countries drawn from the day-diaries included in the Multinational Time Use Study to describe trends in work over five decades. It demonstrates: (1) the approximate historical constancy and cross-national similarity in the total of paid plus unpaid work time over the last 50 or so years; (2) a gender convergence in work patterns and the approximate gender-equality of total (paid plus unpaid) work; and (3) a reversal in the human-capital-related work-leisure gradient (the better-educated now work more), which I associate with a growth of “exploit” and a decline in “industriousness” in the paid work of early 21st century societies.
No need to register; all welcome!
Do note that the Afternoon Seminars@CMIST are held on a fortnightly basis; this is a one-off date change.
Speaker
Jonathan Gershuny
Role: Professor
Organisation: Sociology, Nuffield College, University of Oxford
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
2.07
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
