ABSTRACT
The intention of this paper is to provide some of the raw material out of which such generalisations might be constructed - in the form of evidence about the society's changing pattern of use of time. The UK has a very long history of time-budget research. Time-budget research comprises a wide range of different approaches, undertaken for a number of different purposes: common to all of them is the collection and analysis of peoples' accounts of their own activities. In addition to the material already mentioned, there was a diary collection by Mass Observation in 1937, and sample surveys by the same organisation in 1951 and 1957. A major problem, in inter-temporal comparisons of time-use patterns, is the inconsistency of activity classifications. In addition to the three surveys people have been considering, there is more British material waiting to be integrated, and a mass of evidence from Europe and North America to compare it with.
