Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing About the Relationships Foundation Relationships Foundation is the think tank for a better connected society. We believe that a good society is built on good relationships, from family and community to public service and business. We study the effect that culture, business and government have on relationships. We create new ideas for strengthening social connections and campaign on issues where relationships are being undermined. And we train and equip people to think relationally for themselves. We work with a wide range of leaders in business, academia, public services and politics to implement relational ideas. Our approach goes beyond the traditional left-right political distinction and we work with any party or group that wants to engage with us. Author: David Wong First published September 2009 © Relationships Foundation 2009 3 Hooper Street Cambridge CB1 2NZ United Kingdom T: +44 (0)1223 566333 F: +44 (0)1223 566359 W: www.relationshipsfoundation.org Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing CCoonntteennttss LIST OF FIGURES 6 LIST OF TABLES 8 GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS 9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10 PREFACE Why the Fuss About Time? 25 CHAPTER 1 About Time 27 1.1 An enigma called “time” 27 1.2 Early concepts and measurement of time 28 1.2.1 A primitive concept 28 1.2.2 Keeping time 28 1.3 The philosophical debate on time 31 1.3.1 The Newtonian perspective 31 1.3.2 The Kantian perspective 31 CHAPTER 2 Conceptualising Time 33 2.1 The Dialogic Model 33 2.1.1 Objective time 34 2.1.2 Seasonal time 35 2.1.3 Recalled time 36 2.1.4 Immediate time 37 2.2 Time orientation 38 2.2.1 Sequential vs synchronous time 38 2.2.2 Cultural dispositions to time orientation 39 2.2.3 The psychology of short- and long-termism 41 2.3 Reconciling the different systems of time – a case for getting 43 the balance right? 2.4 The Aas typology of time and some related trends in 46 contemporary Britain 2.4.1 The Aas typology 46 2.4.2 Trends in contemporary Britain based on the Aas typology 47 CHAPTER 3 Conceptualising the Experience of Time 52 3.1 Time judgement 52 4 Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing 3.1.1 The kappa and tau effects 52 3.1.2 The experience of time over time 54 3.2 The concept of flow 55 3.3 Some implications of flow 56 3.3.1 Work 57 3.3.2 Education 59 3.3.3 Relationships 63 CHAPTER 4 The Experience of Time in Britain Today 66 4.1 The culture of speed 66 4.1.1 Travel and its consequences 67 4.1.2 Urbanisation and modern living 73 4.1.3 Work 74 4.1.4 Other consequences of speed 75 4.2 The myopia of short-termism 77 4.2.1 Myopic capitalism 77 4.2.2 Myopic growth 80 4.2.3 Myopic league 81 4.3 The culture of instantaneity and the 24/7 society 84 4.3.1 Technology 85 4.3.2 Work 88 4.3.3 Public policy and public services 88 4.4 Leisure and free time in our society today 91 4.4.1 Is there genuine leisure or free time? 91 4.4.2 Have we become enslaved? 93 4.4.3 Is there any respite? 96 4.5 Time famine 97 4.5.1 Time famine explored 98 4.5.2 Our shrinking 24 hours 99 4.5.3 Working time 101 4.5.4 Working time and work interference with family life 106 4.5.5 The case for flexible working? 109 4.5.6 Time squeeze in education 111 4.5.7 Children’s playtime 116 4.5.8 Other public services 118 4.6 Time (dis)empowerment 119 4.6.1 Control over time 119 4.6.2 An obsession with testing and an overly prescriptive education 122 system 4.6.3 De-professionalisation of the teaching profession 125 4.6.4 The death of spontaneous policing 128 4.6.5 A target-laden health service in the miry clay of bureaucracy 132 4.6.6 Other cases of obsession with targets in public services 135 EPILOGUE A Call to Take Stock 138 REFERENCES 142 5 Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing LLiisstt ooff FFiigguurreess Figure 2.1: The Dialogic Model of Time. 33 Figure 2.2: Reconciling the different systems of time. 44 Figure 2.3: Average travelling time by purpose in Britain, 1995/97 and 2006. 48 Figure 2.4: Average time spent on activities per person per day in the UK 49 (minutes). Figure 2.5: Eating time on an average day among OECD member countries. 51 Figure 3.1: Vacancies for selected care occupations in England, Jul 2003 – Jun 58 2008. Figure 3.2: Academic attainment by truancy levels in Year 11 in England, 2006. 61 Figure 3.3: Full-time mathematics teacher vacancy rates in local authority 62 maintained schools in England, 1997 and 2001-2009. Figure 4.1: Average annual travelling time by mode of transport in Britain, 67 1995/97 – 2006. Figure 4.2: Quarterly public performance measure for all train operators in 69 Britain, 2002/03-Q3 2008/09 (% of trains arriving on time). Figure 4.3: Length of residence of households in England, 2007/08. 70 Figure 4.4: Length of residence of households in England by type of tenure, 70 2007/08. Figure 4.5: Percentage of people who knew many people in their 71 neighbourhoods and thought many people in their neighbourhoods could be trusted in England and Wales by length of residence, 2001. Figure 4.6: Average traffic speeds in central London, 1968-2007. 72 Figure 4.7: GDP, public sector net debt, net lending to individuals and 81 consumer credit in the United Kingdom, 1991-2008. Figure 4.8: English Premier League rivals compared: managerial tenure and 84 trophies, 1996/97 – 2008/09. Figure 4.9: Number of alcohol related hospital admissions in England, 2002/03 – 90 6 Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing 2007/08. Figure 4.10: Correlations between residual and broad (based on time use surveys) 92 leisure time (hours per annum) and life satisfaction scores (based on Gallup World Poll 2006) among OECD countries. Figure 4.11: Sleeping time on an average day among OECD member countries. 100 Figure 4.12: Average hours worked per week among full-time workers in Europe, 102 2008. Figure 4.13: Average hours worked per week among full-time workers among the 103 EU-15, 1997-2008. Figure 4.14: Hours worked per week among managers in the United Kingdom. 104 Figure 4.15: Ratio of students to teaching staff in primary schools among OECD 114 member countries, 2006. Figure 4.16: Number of pupils in large infant classes (more than 30 pupils) and 115 average infant class sizes in England, 2004-2009. Figure 4.17: Compulsory and intended instruction time (hours) for 7-to-8-year- 115 olds in public institutions among OECD member countries, 2006. Figure 4.18: Percentage of people able to choose how time was spent in OECD 119 member countries, 2008 or latest available year. Figure 4.19: Cumulative educational spending versus 2006 PISA mathematics 123 scores among OECD member countries. 7 Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing LLiisstt ooff TTaabblleess Table 3.1: Prevalence of different types of leisure activities among OECD 65 member countries (% total leisure time). Table 4.1: Number of managers, average tenure of managers and average win 83 percentages among English football clubs with the lowest and highest turnover of managers, 1992-2005. Table 4.2: Annual residual leisure time (hours) among full-year-equivalent 94 workers in OECD member countries, 2007. Table 4.3: The proportion of time (%) spent on leisure across an average 24- 95 hour day among OECD member countries. Table 4.4: Average class size in state primary schools among OECD member 113 countries, 2000 and 2006 (number of pupils). Table 4.5: Fixed period exclusions in primary and secondary schools in England, 127 2003/04 – 2006/07. Table 4.6: End of Custody Licence releases, recalls and reoffending in England 136 and Wales, 29 Jun 2007 – 30 Apr 2009. 8 Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing GGlloossssaarryy ooff AAccrroonnyymmss A&E Accident and emergency ATM Automated teller machine BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BC Before Christ BP Before present CBI Confederation of British Industry CCTV Closed-circuit television CDU Clinical decision unit DVD Digital video disc EU The European Union FA Football Association G7 Group of seven industrialised nations Gb Gigabit GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education GDP Gross Domestic Product GMAT Graduate Management Admission Test GP General practitioner JIT Just-in-time KPI Key performance indicator M&A Merger and acquisition Mb Megabit MP Member of Parliament NHS National Health Service NICE National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Ofcom Office of Communications Ofsted Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills ONS Office for National Statistics PC Personal computer PCSO Police Community Support Officer PCT Primary Care Trust PIN Personal identification number PISA Programme for International Student Assessment PLC Public limited company PPM Public Performance Measure R&D Research and development SAT Standard Assessment Test UK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund US The United States of America WIF Work interference with family life 9 Time: Concepts & Trends How Attitudes, Personal Choices, Cultural Norms and Public Policies Impact on Relationships and Wellbeing EExxeeccuuttiivvee SSuummmmaarryy This extended essay is an attempt to explore, from a predominantly conceptual viewpoint, how our attitudes, personal choices and cultural norms with regard to time and the use of time affect our social connections – or what we broadly call “relationships” – and our wellbeing.