Abstract
Chapter 8 takes up the complex and sometimes contradictory ways time pressure is represented and experienced, and the changes that draw from its rise during the twentieth century. Unlike dietary practices and physical activity, time pressure is not implicated in weight in any direct way, but instead is a powerful socio-cultural element shaping, and shaped by, all the health behaviours discussed in the previous chapters. The imprint of time pressure is evident in people’s accounts of car use, dilemmas surrounding how to get or stay fit, problems scheduling family meals, and reliance on convenience food. In turn, these daily challenges feed back into the contemporary experience and understanding of time pressure.
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Notes
- 1.
While the percentage of married women in paid employment in Australia stagnated below 20% at the end of World War II, and remained low until the 1970s, more than 60% of our female participants had worked for pay at some stage, many part-time and usually after children were all in school.
- 2.
Those who may wish to downshift must now consider that option in the context of persistent global financial turbulence that is provoking new anxieties about future job and income security.
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Banwell, C., Broom, D., Davies, A., Dixon, J. (2012). The Weight of Time: From Full to Fragmented in 50 Years. In: Weight of Modernity. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8957-1_8
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