Time, like money, has become a basic unit of measurement
during modernity. E.P. Thompson (1967) demonstrated how organising
the production process according to time-oriented action was central
for the development of industrial societies, while Veblen famously
conceptualised time as a resource for displaying social status
through leisure - the 'conspicuous abstention from labour' (Veblen,
1925:8). Yet, contemporary anxieties about time go beyond measurement
and display. Put simply, time is often viewed as being 'squeezed',
that people can no longer find the time to complete the tasks
and activities most important to them and that the pace of life
is increasing (Cross, 1993; DEMOS, 1995). There are many explanations
as to why this is the case. Some address whether there has been
substantive changes in the duration of time spent on particular
tasks, such as paid and unpaid work (Gershuny, 2000; Schor, 1992).
Others consider the temporal organisation of societies (Zerubavel,
1979), while qualitative accounts examine narratives and experiences
of those most vulnerable to time pressures (Hochschild, 1997;
Thompson, 1996). The problem remains, however, that little agreement
can be found regarding whether experiences of a time squeeze (or
being harried) are as pervasive as popular discourse suggests,
what socio-structural mechanisms generate a time squeeze, and
whether its effects are distributed evenly across society.
This paper reviews analysis of the health and lifestyle
survey (HALS), 1985 and 1992, and draws upon in-depth semi-structured
interviews conducted with twenty British suburban households,
in order to shed light on 'senses' of time squeeze. The HALS is
interesting because it asked respondents whether they felt 'pressed
for time', a subjective term that holds similarities with the
concept of being 'harried'. Literally, the verb 'harried' means
"to harass" and "to worry" (Oxford English
Dictionary). However, since Linder (1970) appropriated the term
to describe the 'harried leisure class', its meaning has come
to be associated more directly with both a lack of time and the
acceleration of daily life. For example, to be harried is similar
to being hurried and harassed in the sense that people 'hurry'
to complete tasks within limited time frames or feel harassed
by the burden of obligations to others. To this, the term 'harried'
adds a degree of anxiety regarding the temporal over-load created
by the proliferation of simultaneous demands.
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