> For the first time, society forced onto an enormous number of its citizens the requirement to manage something they had never had to manage before -- free tim

> For the first time, society forced onto an enormous number of its citizens the requirement to manage something they had never had to manage before -- free time. Medieval (and earlier!) peasants also had ample free time, much more in fact than we have today once you account for the many months of various holidays and festivities [1]. It was industrial capitalism that completely turned over the equation. [1] https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_workweek.html https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/worktime/hours_...