Through analysis of time-use, the proposition that 'time is running out' is examined. This view has been based on arguments that the richer a society becomes, the less its members have the opportunity to relax and do as they please. The opposing view is put that the 'leisure society' continues to emerge in developed countries, and that the experience of the 1980s is somewhat exceptional. Long-term prospects for the leisure society are examined, and the conclusion is reached that the economic development process of the shift of time-use from production to consumption is continuing. This popular image of the future corresponds to arguments from various academic disciplines which suggest that economic development leads to time congestion. These arguments are convincing, at least for the UK during the 1980s. But do they hold more generally? A new multinational comparative collection of time-use evidence suggests that there may still be some hope for the leisure society.
