50 Years Ago

摘要

'The scientific revolution and leisure'—Many of our obligations eat into our spare time and, in a large city, the amount of spare time which is actually free may be very small. First of all there is the journey to and from work. Moreover, when the worker arrives home a queue of domestic duties may await him: shopping and the payment of bills, repairs in the home, the care of children, and perhaps a visit to the doctor or dentist... preparations for a holiday may involve a gigantic effort... All the same, it remains true that the free time enjoyed by the average worker has enormously increased during the past century. A hundred years ago the average expectation of life at birth was 40 years and a man worked about 70 hours a week. To-day, these figures are reversed, the expectation of life is 70 years and the working week is nearer 40 hours. Although there is, relatively speaking, plenty of free time, happiness, the Holy Grail of the twentieth century, remains as remote as ever.