Discretionary Time: A New Measure of Freedom - Softcover

Goodin, Robert E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521709512 ISBN 13: 9780521709514

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

A healthy work-life balance has become increasingly important to people trying to cope with the pressures of contemporary society. This trend highlights the fallacy of assessing well-being in terms of finance alone; how much time we have matters just as much as how much money. The authors of this book have developed a novel way to measure 'discretionary time': time which is free to spend as one pleases. Exploring data from the US, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden and Finland, they show that temporal autonomy varies substantially across different countries and under different living conditions. By calibrating how much control people have over their time, and how much they could have under alternative welfare, gender or household arrangements, this book offers a new perspective for comparative cross-national enquiries into the temporal aspects of human welfare.

About this title

About the Authors

Robert E. Goodin is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Social & Political Theory in the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University.

James Mahmud Rice is an ARC Research Associate in the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University.

Antti Parpo is Administrator of Somero Social & Health Services, Finland.

Lina Eriksson is an ARC Research Associate in the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521709512
• ISBN 13: 9780521709514
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 482