Time, Work and Task Orientation

1 September 1992

journal article
research article
Published by SAGE Publications in Time & Society

Vol. 1 (3) , 341-358
https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463x92001003002

Abstract

The notion of task orientation - that natural cues govern both the pace and intensity of labor in preindustrial societies - has been too readily accepted by historians, especially American historians. Mistaking `natural time' for a more leisurely approach to life, they have missed the cultural attitudes about work that inform any interpretation of natural temporal cues. Nature offers no specific models for labor, and in many cases `natural' sources for time have resulted in regimented, regular and intense patterns of labor.

Keywords

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