Working Time

Abstract

Working time became important only after the distinctive change in the character of labour following the industrial revolution. Before this change the majority of people in Europe worked the land, and a smaller number of people, based in towns and cities, were occupied in crafts, controlled by guilds. Work patterns were organized around the seasons, including religious festivals, or according to task. Farming communities sowed seeds, guarded lambing sheep, harvested by the season, and milked cows daily; tides determined the working rhythm of fishing communities; handicrafts were made by people who owned their own tools; iron-ore furnaces were fed with fuel at the required time. Almost one third of the year was days dedicated to some saint or other (Hill, 1968: 148). However, following the enclosures of the common lands, the proportion of the population able to make a living by working the land was drastically reduced. What ultimately emerged was a large class of people with no other means of livelihood than the sale of their ability to labour. Their capacity to labour belonged to the labourers themselves, along with the responsibility for maintaining this capacity. These 'free' labourers sold this capacity in units of time. The profound set of changes in the nature of work brought about by the industrial revolution is usually discussed in terms of three stages: the putting-out system of cottage industry; manufacturing; and, finally, modem industry.