[H-verkko] CFP: Work for leisure?

[agricola at utu.fi]

Agricolan Artikkelipyyntötietokantaan
( http://agricola.utu.fi/nyt/pyynnot/ )
on tullut seuraava ilmoitus:

Work for leisure?

Call for Papers to Session 214
on the XVIth World Economic History Congress, Stellenbosch, 9-13
July, 2012:

Work for leisure? 
Economic inequality, women’s work and leisure in a global context

This session aims to advance the study of time allocation, by
investigating and explaining the variances in the appreciation of
leisure throughout history and across regions. The extent, to which
leisure time is valued, varies highly in different societies and over
time. It is probably safe to say that today 'free time is money',
although this statement probably holds for societies with high levels
of labour productivity more than for labour-intensive economies. One
could for instance argue that colonial policies were directed at
diminishing leisure of the colonized people, which as a by-effect
generated extra free time among the working classes in the
metropolis.
Leisure is appreciated differently within societies as well. Leisure
by the well-to-do, for instance, may generate (conspicuous)
consumption, whereas leisure to the poor may be conceived as a
burden. Also, men's and women's free time most likely is valued
differently, and some have even gone so far as to suggest that this
contributed to the gender wage gap (Becker 1985).
There are at least three reasons why this topic is relevant. First,
leisure can both be an indicator for economic underdevelopment (e.g.
Boserup 1965) and for economic wellbeing (e.g. De Vries 2008). The
allocation of time over paid and unpaid work is strongly related to
any time that is not allocated to these resources. Hence, changes in
preferences for leisure time also affect the allocation of paid work
and housework.
Second, while both the industrious and industrial revolutions
affected leisure time, the mechanisms differed quite substantially.
Industriousness had a negative impact on the amount of leisure time
(De Vries 1994), whereas technological innovations during
industrialization allowed for substation of labour-intensive work
activities and housework.
Third, while on the macro level historians have observed an immense
increase in the variation in and number of leisure activities in the
early twentieth century, in some historical contexts, time spent by
married women on housework did not decrease (Mokyr 2000).
In sum, we would like to invite papers exploring the relation between
leisure and work activities, while paying attention to gender
differences and the level of economic development. We are especially
interested in papers making regional or national comparisons and/or
comparisons over time. Topics could for example include changes in
the availability and division of leisure time due to technological
advances, the acquisition of cheap labour due to in-migration or
colonization or changes in norms caused by secularization and changes
in political climates.

Paper proposals can be sent to Richard Zijdeman (r.l.zijdeman at uu.nl)
before February 13th 2012.

Best wishes,

Elise van Nederveen-Meerkerk (International Institute of Social
History)
Richard Zijdeman (Utrecht University / Stirling University)
(r.l.zijdeman at uu.nl)


------------------------------------------------------
Ilmoituksen lähetti: Marjatta Rahikainen
<marjatta.rahikainen at helsinki.fi>
Ilmoitus vanhentuu: 13.02.2012
Lisätietoja WWW-osoitteesta: http://www.wehc2012.org/