Reworking E. P. Thompson's `Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism'

Abstract

This paper attempts to lay foundations for a new account of the histories of times in England (and beyond). A disjuncture has arisen between much recent writing about time and the most influential general accounts of time and society in the historic and contemporary West. The latter emphasize a social and geographical diffusion of a modern time competence, stemming from intensified industrial work-discipline, and centred on clock time, whereas the former emphasize the multiple and qualitative nature of times. Through a discussion of major theoretical themes (the multiplicity of time-senses and of time-disciplines; the skilfulness of temporal practices; and symbolic facets of time), we point to central topics in a reformulated account of western time-senses.