ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some preliminary analysis of downshifting, its differing forms, and its potential significance in future labor market developments. David Gordon's analysis is compatible with and sheds light on voluntary "downshifting," a phenomenon in which individuals choose to reduce their working hours in the pursuit of nonmaterial goals such as leisure time, better family relationships, and reduced stress. Beginning in the early 1990s, stories about a social trend which came to be known as "downshifting" began appearing in the popular press. This chapter focuses on a telephone survey designed to ascertain some basic parameters about the downshifting phenomenon. The propensity to downshift is greater among the various categories of nonmarrieds, and marrieds are much less likely to downshift. With his long-term interest in labor supply issues, David Gordon realized better than most that the resistance will manifest itself in flexible and surprising ways, even within the most pro-employer of institutional regimes. .
