Time allocation

Abstract: dentiary bases are not always clear, Mehta’s interpretations are often provocative. This monograph should be of interest to culturalists, especially those specializing in Islamic societies. However, the analytic content of the book interacts primarily with theoretical debates from semiotics, and the peculiar way in which Mehta frames his findings makes for difficult reading. I found it hard to follow many of Mehta’s arguments. Also, I would have preferred more discussion of the general theoretical significance of his interpretations. The book’s influence within mainstream sociology will likely be limited.

Abstract: In this paper, we use five decades of time-use surveys to document trends in the allocation of time within the United States. We find that a dramatic increase in leisure time lies behind the relatively stable number of market hours worked between 1965 and 2003. Specifically, using a variety of definitions for leisure, we show that leisure for men increased by roughly six to nine hours per week (driven by a decline in market work hours) and for women by roughly four to eight hours per week (driven by a decline in home production work hours). Lastly, we document a growing inequality in leisure that is the mirror image of the growing inequality of wages and expenditures, making welfare calculation based solely on the latter series incomplete.