Take Back Your Time

Take Back Your Time

by
Released August 2003
Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN: 9781605096384

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Book description

Forget oil or gold time is the most precious commodity in America today. Americans have less free time than anyone else in the industrialized world. In fact, modern Americans work longer hours than medieval peasants Here, well known experts and writers explore the effects of overwork, over-scheduling, time pressure and stress on our health, relationships, children, the environment, and more. These renowned authors come together to support a national movement to Take Back Your Time, and they propose personal corporate, and legislative solutions.

Take Back Your Time is the official handbook of the national movement behind Take Back Your Time Day. Ultimately, lake Back Your Time Day organizers plan to institute public policies that put work in its rightful place and allow us all to live richer, fuller, more well-rounded lives.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. PREFACE: Take Back Your Time Day
    1. JOHN DE GRAAF
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
    1. JOHN DE GRAAF
    2. A Collection of Essays
    3. Structure of the Book
    4. A Practical Appendix
  7. PART ONE: Overwork in America
    1. CHAPTER 1: The (Even More) Overworked American
      1. JULIET SCHOR
      2. The Rise of Annual Work Hours
      3. The Controversy about Time-use Trends
      4. The Ironic Effects of Laborsaving Technologies
      5. Conclusion
    2. CHAPTER 2: An Issue for Everybody
      1. BARBARA BRANDT
      2. Families
      3. Wageworkers and Professionals
      4. Public Health and Safety
      5. Part-time and Temporary Workers—The Underemployed
      6. The Underemployed
      7. Low-income Workers
      8. The Good News
    3. CHAPTER 3: The Incredible Shrinking Vacation
      1. JOE ROBINSON
      2. American Exceptionalism
      3. No Legal Protections
      4. Out of Balance
      5. The Engine of Creativity
      6. How Europe Does It
      7. Cross-training
    4. CHAPTER 4: Forced Overtime in the Land of the Free
      1. LONNIE GOLDEN
      2. Clarifying the Problem
      3. Overwork
      4. Overemployment
      5. The Extent of Overtime, Overwork and Overemployment
      6. The Extent of Mandatory Overtime
      7. Solutions: Innovations in Collective Bargaining Agreements
      8. Solutions: State and Federal Legislative Reforms
      9. Conclusions
  8. PART TWO: Time is a Family Value
    1. CHAPTER 5: Overscheduled Kids, Underconnected Families
      1. WILLIAM DOHERTY AND BARBARA CARLSON
      2. The Cart Before the Horse
      3. What’s the Problem?
      4. What Happened, and When?
    2. CHAPTER 6: Recapturing Childhood
      1. BETSY TAYLOR
      2. The Importance of Play
      3. Sleep
      4. Homework
      5. Holding Down Jobs
      6. Adult Work Patterns
      7. Electronic Escapes
    3. CHAPTER 7: What about Fluffy and Fido?
      1. CAMILLA H. FOX
  9. PART THREE: The Cost to Civil Society
    1. CHAPTER 8: Wasted Work, Wasted Time
      1. JONATHAN ROWE
      2. Depletion of the Temporal Commons
      3. The Work Place, The Whole Place
      4. The New Factory of Need
      5. Reclaim the Time
    2. CHAPTER 9: Time to Be a Citizen
      1. PAUL LOEB
    3. CHAPTER 10: Time and Crime
      1. CHARLES REASONS
      2. It’s the Economy, Stupid
      3. Increasing Employment and Reducing Stress to Fight Crime
      4. Let’s Really Support Family Values
      5. A Win-Win Situation
  10. PART FOUR: Health Hazards
    1. CHAPTER 11: An Hour a Day (Could Keep the Doctor Away)
      1. SUZANNE SCHWEIKERT
      2. The Effects of Time Pressure on Pregnancy
      3. The Health Insurance Conundrum
    2. CHAPTER 12: The (Bigger) Picture of Health
      1. STEPHEN BEZRUCHKA
      2. Health Care and Diet
      3. Unhealthy Comparisons
      4. Unattached Children
      5. We’re Not Number One
      6. The Roseto Effect
  11. PART FIVE: Environmental Consequences
    1. CHAPTER 13: Haste Makes Waste
      1. DAVID WANN
      2. The Faster They Produce, the Faster We Consume
      3. Speed Kills
      4. The Faster We Consume, the Faster They Produce…
      5. The Faster We Consume, the Faster They Produce, the Faster We Consume…
      6. No Time to Care
      7. No Time to Recycle
      8. Slow Down and Take Care
    2. CHAPTER 14: The Speed Trap
      1. ROBERT BERNSTEIN
      2. Doubly Deprived
      3. Slower Than We Think
      4. Changing Land Use
      5. Suburban Nation
      6. Autos On Welfare
      7. Overworking For Cars
      8. Freedom of Choice
    3. CHAPTER 15: On Time, Happiness, and Ecological Footprints
      1. TIM KASSER AND KIRK WARREN BROWN
      2. Our Sample
      3. The Overwork Blues
      4. Smaller Footprints
      5. Off Course
      6. Towards Time Affluence
  12. PART SIX: Historical and Cultural Perspectives
    1. CHAPTER 16: When We Had the Time
      1. BENJAMIN HUNNICUTT
      2. Original Affluence
      3. Dreams of Leisure
      4. The Old Economic Wisdom
      5. Enlightened Owners
      6. The Best to You Each Morning
      7. The Balanced Life
      8. Beyond Business
      9. Renewing the Dream
    2. CHAPTER 17: Can America Learn from Shabbat?
      1. RABBI ARTHUR WASKOW
      2. Not Just a Personal Choice
      3. The Scriptures Say …
      4. Balance
      5. Th e Crisis of Modernity
      6. Who Will Lead the Change?
      7. What about Business?
      8. A Role for Religious Communities
      9. Some New Ideas
  13. PART SEVEN: Taking Back Your Time
    1. CHAPTER 18: Enough– the Time Cost of Stuff
      1. VICKI ROBIN
      2. Your Real Hourly Wage
      3. The Fullfillment Curve
    2. CHAPTER 19: The Simple Solution
      1. CECILE ANDREWS
      2. Cancel Something
      3. The Attractions of Simplicity
      4. Solutions
      5. The Obstacles
  14. PART EIGHT: Workplace Solutions
    1. CHAPTER 20: Jobs to Share
      1. CAROL OSTROM
    2. CHAPTER 21: A New Bottom Line
      1. IRENE MYERS, LARRY GAFFIN, AND BARBARA SCHRAMM
      2. Reorienting Our Vision
      3. Preparing to Act
      4. Fi nding Courage
    3. CHAPTER 22: Working Retired
      1. BEVERLY GOLDBERG
      2. Longer, Healthier Lives
      3. Dissatisfied Workers
      4. New Ways to Work
      5. Creative Judgement
    4. CHAPTER 23: A Case for Sabbaticals
      1. BOB SESSIONS AND LORI ERICKSON
      2. Sabbaticals for Everyone
      3. Time for the Spirit
    5. CHAPTER 24: America Needs a Break
      1. KAREN NUSSBAUM, CHRISTINE OWENS, AND CAROL EICKERT
      2. The Battle Over Work Hours: An Enduring Struggle for Workers and Their Unions
      3. Evening/Weekend Hours and Opposite Shifts: Juggling Schedules to Make It Work
      4. The Nursing Crisis: A Case Study in Unchecked Escalating Work Hours
      5. Reports from Other Industries
      6. The California Paid Leave Law: Another Way to Spell Relief for Overstressed Families
    6. CHAPTER 25: It Would be Good for Business Too
      1. SHARON LOBEL
      2. Work Redesign
      3. I’m OK, You’re OK
      4. The Fifth Dimension?
      5. Don’t Vote Me Off the Island
      6. Trim the Fat or Else—Choose Else!
      7. Bullish on Growth
      8. New Role Models
  15. PART NINE: Rethinking Patterns
    1. CHAPTER 26: Recipes for Relief
      1. ANNA LAPPE
      2. Far Away Food
      3. Signs of Change
      4. No Time to Cook
      5. No Time to Eat
      6. Slow Food
      7. Time and Diet
    2. CHAPTER 27: Time by Design
      1. LINDA BREEN PIERCE
      2. The Old and the New
      3. What is Time, Anyway?
      4. The Automobile Time Buster
      5. Combine Activities to Free Up Time
      6. Save Time by Planning Less
      7. Share Resources and Save Time
      8. Huge Time Savings for Parents
      9. The Not So Big Town
  16. PART TEN: Changing Public Policy
    1. CHAPTER 28: Europe’s Work-Time Alternatives
      1. ANDERS HAYDEN
      2. The Growing International Work-time Gap
      3. Bringing the Workweek Below 40 Hours
      4. Four to Six Weeks Vacations for All
      5. Paid Parental Leave
      6. The Right to Choose Shorter Hours with Equal Conditions
      7. Career Breaks and “Job Rotation”
      8. Fundamentally Different Cultures?
      9. Long Hours: The Price of Success?
    2. CHAPTER 29: A Policy Agenda for Taking Back Time
      1. JEROME SEGAL
      2. Time Estrangement
      3. Work and Sabbaticals
      4. Tax Credits for Contributions to Nonprofits
      5. Time Thievery
      6. Ov erwork
      7. Shorter Hours
      8. Overwork from Necessity
    3. CHAPTER 30: What’s an Economy For?
      1. AVID KORTEN
      2. Measuring Economic Performance
      3. Ki ing Ourselves for Money
      4. Consider the Possibilities
      5. Useful and Meaningful Work
      6. Living Economics Emerging
  17. Appendices
    1. APPENDIX A: Organizing Take Back Your Time Day in Your Community
      1. SEAN SHEEHAN
      2. Visualizing Take Back Your Time Day
      3. Organizer Qualification Test—Do You Have What It Takes?
      4. Ten Tips for a Successful Day
      5. Timeline for a Successful Take Back Your Time Day
    2. APPENDIX B: Teach-ins and Study Circles
      1. CECILE ANDREWS
      2. The Philosophy
      3. The Strategies
      4. The Activities
      5. Study Circles
      6. Summary
    3. APPENDIX C: How to Pitch (Not Place) a Story
      1. ERIC BROWN
      2. On Bended Knee
      3. Exploding the Myths
      4. It’s the Message, Stupid
      5. Now Go Get Media
  18. References
    1. CHAPTER 1
    2. CHAPTER 2
    3. CHAPTER 4
    4. CHAPTER 6
    5. CHAPTER 12
    6. CHAPTER 14
    7. CHAPTER 21
    8. CHAPTER 24
    9. CHAPTER 26
  19. Index
  20. About the Authors
  21. Art Credits
  22. Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Product information

  • Title: Take Back Your Time
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: August 2003
  • Publisher(s): Berrett-Koehler Publishers
  • ISBN: 9781605096384