Time budgets and their uses

Time Budgets and Their Uses Author(s): Rudolf Andorka Source: Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 13 (1987), pp. 149-164 Published by: Annual Reviews Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2083244 Accessed: 16/11/2010 14:08 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

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Ann. Rev. Sociol. 1987. 13:149-64 Copyright ? 1987 by Annual Reviews Inc. All rights reserved

TIME BUDGETS AND THEIR USES Rudolf Andorka Karl Marx University of Economics, Departmentof Sociology, Budapest5. Pf. 489.

H1828 Hungary 175-172

Abstract The papersummarizesthe stateof the artof time budgetsurveys and analyses.

It first treatsthe new methodologicaldevelopments,thanreviews the different fields of utilization of time budget data: mass media contact, demand for cultural and other leisure goods and services, urban planning, consumer behavior, needs of elderly persons and of children, the sexual division of labor, the informal economy and household economics, social accounting, social indicators,qualityof life, way of life, social structure.It deals also with the lessons from intertemporaland internationalcomparisonsof the results of time budget surveys.

INTRODUCTION The first time budget surveys were performedin the interwarperiod, e.g. by S. G. Strumilin (1961) in a Soviet town in 1924 (Szalai 1966), and by Lundberg and coauthors in the 1930s in their Westchester Country Survey (Lundberget al 1934). In 1939, Sorokin & Berger published an important book aboutthe methodsof analysisof time budgets. The greatupsurgeof time budget surveys and analyses, however, began in the 1960s, essentially with a 12-nationinternationalcomparativesurvey (Szalai 1972). The results of this survey seem to have convinced sociologists and statistical agencies that the time budget survey was feasible and might provide valuable new information for many different purposes, ranging from very practical social planning questions (e.g. the demandfor urbanmass transport)to sophisticatedtheoretical problems (e.g. the stratificationof a given national society).

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In the past 20 years, time budget surveys have been carriedout in many countries, including developing countries, by both academicresearchersand statistical agencies. The time budget method has been included in the works of statistical organizations of the United Nations and other international agencies. Researchers in the field established in 1970 an association, the InternationalResearch Group on Time Budgets and Social Activities, the secretariat of which is at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada, and which has regularmeetings. The vast scientific literatureon time budgets is difficult to review and even to systematize. This review article first briefly discusses some methodologicaldevelopmentsand then examinesthe purposes or uses of the surveys, beginning with the simplest practicalutilizationsand progressing to increasingly complex theoretical uses.

METHODOLOGY The methods of time budget surveys and of their analysis were elaboratedby the participantsof the 12-nation time budget survey of 1965-1966 (Szalai 1972). The daily activities of a sample of the populationare registeredfrom midnight to midnight (in the case of the abovementionedmultinationalsurvey, the population included only individuals who were aged 18-64). This activity record can be attainedin two ways: (a) by diaries filled out by the persons in the sample, or (b) by interviewswith the persons. Eitherthe exact times of beginning and finishing the activities are recorded, or the activities are insertedin short time slots (of 10-15 minutes, e.g. from 10:00 to 10:15).

For each activity, times, places and other participantsare also registered.

Usually it is possible to note secondaryactivities, e.g. listening to the radio while doing housework.

Three main indexes are calculatedand used in the analysis: (a) the average durationof each type of activity duringthe day (or the week) for all persons interviewed, (b) the percentageof all persons who participatedin the given activity on the selected day, (c) the averagedurationof the activity for those who actually participatedin it on the given day. Given these indexes, investigatorscomparevariousdemographicgroupsand social strataby different nations and cohorts from differenthistoricalperiods in a given society (Harvey et al 1977). For internationaland intertemporalcomparison, the crucial problem is obviously the use of a common or at least comparablelists (a) of demographicand social categories, (b) of activities, and (c) of codes for the location of activities and for the other participants(Harvey 1984). Most surveys have, in fact, used slightly different lists of activities due to the particularpurposes of the study and the conditions of a particularsociety.

However, most often the categories in the list can be collapsed and so made

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comparableto the list of 37 activities or a grosser list from the 12-nation internationaltime budget survey of 1965-1966.

Maintainingthis basic technique, investigatorshave added some important new developments and methodological investigations. Concerningthe sample, it is usually considered desirable to extend the age limits, since it is importantto obtain knowledge about the daily activities of aged persons, in orderto ascertaintheirneeds for care. It is also interestingto have information on the time of children (Zimmer et al 1985). The sampling of the days for which time budget diaries are collected is also an issue. In the case of the internationaltime budget survey, the only requirementwas to perform the interviewing within two months-these two months should not include summer time, time at Christmas,nor the periodof very cold weather.In addition, both weekdays and weekend days should be included in the sample, more or less accordingto their actualproportion.Some recent surveys have attempted to embrace a complete year by distributingthe days of interviewingthroughout the year. In this case multiple interviewsfor each respondentare considered to be advantageous,since the qualityof responsestends to improveover time. However, not more than four interviewsper person (distributedusually at equal intervals during the year) are recommended(Kalton 1985).

The qualityof time budget datahas been investigatedby differentmethods.

On the one hand, responses were checked against actual behavior. On the other hand, some "rules of thumb"were established, e.g. that the less valid diaries tend to have fewer activities, a smaller variety of activities, fewer secondaryactivities, more "not ascertained"time, and more activities beginning exactly on the hour or half hour (Juster 1985a). It is also possible to compare the time budget data to the responses given to so-called "stylized questions,"i.e. the respondentis asked abouthow much time he has devoted to certain activities or how often he was engaged in various activities (e.g. watchingtelevision). The time budget diariesprovide valid and reliable data, and the time budget is "theonly viable methodof obtainingvalid and reliable data on activities"(Robinson 1985a:). Therefore,time budget methodsought to be preferred,in spite of highercosts, to the methodof "stylizedquestions."

For analyticalpurposesit is often desirableto condense the greatamountof data contained in the time-budget diaries. A four-categoryclassification of activities was proposed (As 1978), namely, (a) necessary time/physiological needs, (b) contracted time/paid work and studying in regular schools, (c) committed time/otherwork, usually not paid, the time obligations of which are less precise, e.g. household work, (d) free time/to be distinguishedfrom leisure, which means some subjectivelygratifyingactivity, (free time means the time left over after the activities in a-c). Clark et al (1982) proposed hypercodes and composite variables to analyze the time budget diaries.

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FIELDS OF UTILIZATION Mass Media Contact, Demandfor Cultural and Other Leisure Goods and Services About 20-30 years ago it was expected that parallelwith the rapidgrowthof productivityand the rise in the standardof living, the amountof leisure time would increase sharply. It was predictedthat in the near future an average person would not work more than40,000 hoursin a lifetime (Fourastie1965).

The question was raised whether we were heading for a "civilization of leisure" (Dumazedier 1962). This possibility was not considered an undisputed blessing by all authors (Anderson 1962, Riesman 1964). The recognition of its likelihood, however, directed sociological researchtoward leisure activities. The companies selling leisure goods and services and organizationsinvolved in planning were equally interestedin these studies.

They expected these studies to yield practicalguidelines for the development of the productionand marketingof leisure goods and for the building of a leisure infrastructure.Surveys on the utilization of the newly introduced work-free Saturdaysare obviously useful examples (Szanto 1972).

The most developed field of leisure time researchinvolves determiningthe length of time and the exact time slots of radio listening and television viewing. These data provide helpful informationfor designing programsfor these mass media. In some countries, radio and television companies have their own public opinion research institutions which perform time budget surveys regularly. Examples of such countries are Japan (Nakanishi 1982), Hungary (Tomka 1978), and Korea (Kim et al 1982). Long-rangeplans for the mass media "contact time" can be constructed on the basis of these surveys. Originally,many longitudinalanalyses indicatedthattime devotedto viewing television programs was increasing (Robinson & Converse 1972, Robinson 1985b). Recently, however, both an Americanfollow-up survey in 1981-1982 (Juster1985a, b, c, d) and a Japanesesurvey in 1985 (Nakanishi & Suzuki 1986) indicate a turningpoint in this patternof growth. The earlier increase in time devoted to television viewing observed in some advanced societies and the parallel decrease in several other cultural activities (e.g. reading) as well as social contacts outside the home obviously reflected transformationsin everyday life (Robinson 1969, 1977). These transformations can be evaluated both positively and negatively.

Urban Planning One of the oldest theses of urban sociology is that the larger urban areas provide many more numerous and diversified possibilities for working,

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shopping, and entertainmentthan do the traditionalruralareas. The way of life of the urbanpopulationsthereforediffers strongly from that of the rural populations. A corollaryof this thesis states that humancontacts in cities are more numerousbut much less deep. Time budget surveysoffer possibilities to verify these theses (Harvey & Procos 1974).

Urban sociologists are also interested in the time budget technique for urban planning. From the point of view of the development of urban infrastructures,it is obviously interesting to discover where people do their shopping, where they go for recreation,which kind of transportthey use, etc.

The usual time budget questionnaireis often supplementedfor these purposes by including questions (a) on the exact location of activities in the cities, so that the movement of persons can be traced geographically, and (b) on the time of these movements, in order that data on congestion can be provided (Gutenschwager1973, Elliot et al 1973, Chapin 1974, Wallden 1975, Claret al 1979). This method can be employed to evaluate the impact of urban policies (Cullen 1982).

ConsumerBehavior Time budget studies have also proven useful in the areaof consumerbehavior research(Venkantesan& Anderson1986). Such analyseshave addressedboth practicalpolicy issues such as the implicationsof compulsoryclosing hoursin Norway (Gr0nmo1978) and more academicand yet still practicalissues such as social interactionand shopping behavior (Gr0nmo& Lavik 1986). Additionally, time budget surveys can be used to evaluate the demand of households for electricity during different parts of the day and the possibility of influencing this demand by pricing policies (Atkinson 1978, Hill, 1985).

The Needs of Elderly Persons and the Care of Children As the populationof all advancedsocieties is aging and, in particular,as the percentageof personsliving to attainvery old age increases,thereis increased interestin the way these elderly persons live, in their demandsand interests, and in theireventual need for care by social institutions.On the otherhand, it is considered desirablethat they continue to live in their accustomedmilieu.

Still, their demands for assistance and care increase with age. If these demands are not satisfied, the aged might become completely isolated and forced to live in very difficult circumstances,especially if they are relatively poor. Time budget surveys provide valuable ways to investigatethe changes in the way the elderly live and changes in their needs. It is also possible to investigatethe existence or nonexistenceof personalcontactsand of relatives who are able to provide help. Additionally, the relationship of activity patternsand humancontacts to the general well-being of elderly persons can be studied by including supplementaryquestions (Altergott 1982a, 1986; Little 1984; Ujimoto 1984).

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The time parentsand others devote to the care of children is of particular interest. It is useful to secure informationon the type of persons who care for the children, especially given the growing employment of marriedwomen with children. Because the labor force participationamong marriedwomen has increased, the care of the childrenneeds to be reorganizedin some way.

The level of help provided by grandparentsand by other private persons (partlyon the basis of mutualhelp, partlyfor pay) is not well known in many societies, althoughthis knowledge is necessaryto plan for the developmentof kindergartensand day schools. On a more theoretical level, parental care might be considered an important-or perhapsthe most important-form of human investment (Hill & Stafford 1985) on which the quality of the future adult generations depends.

From otherresearchthere is some evidence thatthe amountof parentalcare is indeed positively correlatedwith the cognitive developmentof the children and also with the futureeconomic status of the children. The Americantime budget survey of 1975-1976 demonstratedvery importantdifferences in the per-childparentalcare time accordingto the educationof the mother, suggesting that highly educatedparentstransferin this way importantadvantagesto their children (Hill & Stafford 1985).

The Sexual Division of Labor At least since the advent of industrialization,a characteristicpattern of division of laborbetween husbandsand wives has developed. The men at first were the ones primarilyengaged in paid work outside the home, while the marriedwomen were responsiblefor most of the householdwork and care of the children. This division of tasks is clearly reflected in the time budget survey in 1965-1966 (Szalai 1975). These surveys are often referredto in debates about the emancipationof women and about the equalizationof the conditions of the two sexes.

Several developments in advanced societies may help to equalize the division of tasks and lead to a more "symmetrical family." Gr0nmo & Lingsom (1982) mention five such tendencies when comparing Norwegian time budget data from 1971-1972 and 1980-1981: (a) the social movement emphasizingthe values of women's liberation,(b) the increaseof the general level of education and the fact that more educated men spend more time in household chores, while more educatedwomen spendmore time in paid work and less in the household than do less educated women (c) the increase in women's participationin the active labor force, (d) the reduction in the average numberof children per family, (e) the acquisition and use of more household appliancesthat enhancethe productivityof householdwork. Comparingthe datafrom the 1971-1972 and 1980-1981 time budget surveys, they found that the sexual differences of participationin household work had

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diminished. Similar tendencies were found in other countries, e.g. Hungary (Andorka& Falussy 1982). Nevertheless, the change towardsexual equalization of household chores is very slow. This area seems to be very resistantto change.

Another important aspect of the male-female differences involves the discrepancy between the total contracted (market work) and committed (household and child care) time. In Hungary,where a very large and growing proportionof women are employed fulltime, the average of this time was more than 30 min longer per day for women 15-69 years old than for men (men: 8hr, 27 min; women, 9 hr, 1 min, on an average day in 1976-1977).

This difference did not appreciablydecline since the first survey in 1963; in fact, it has increased from some minutes to more than half an hour. The reason for this increase involves the growth of full-time employment for women, which counterbalancedthe reduction of contractedworking hours and the shorteningof householdwork of women. Thus, it could be concluded that in Hungarythe majorpartof the burdenof work is on the shouldersof the women, in spite of (or in consequence of) the complete legal equalizationof the position of women and men (Andorka& Falussy 1982). The differenceof the total contracted and committed time of men and women was almost identical in Finland (Niemi et al 1979) and even more so in Poland (Adamczuk 1978), but somewhat less so in the United States (Hill 1985). Thus the overburdeningof women seems to be nearly universal.

The Informal Economy and Household Economics It was originally assumed that economic activities would be steadily transposed from the household to the industrialproductionsystem, as was convincingly describedby Polanyi in his Great Transformation.Therefore,both social scientists and the general public were greatly surprisedwhen it was discovered in the 1970s that instead of declining, many types of small scale productionactivities were increasing in some advanced societies, e.g. Hungary. Such activities were conducted in the household, partly in other small units, for the market;but also to a large extent they occurred outside the marketin the frameworkof mutualhelp simply for household consumption.

As noted by Zapf (1984), under the conditions of both "marketfailure" (unemployment,etc) and "state failure"(problemsof the welfare state), the othertwo producersof welfare-voluntary associationsand the householdssteppedin and increasinglyassisted the membersof the society to satisfy their material and nonmaterial (e.g. personal care) demands. Gershuny (1978, 1979) assumes that instead of a service economy (where the employment in services will grow at the expense of industrialand agriculturalemploymentin the near future we will witness the emergence of a self-service economy where more and more service demandswill be satisfied on a "do-it-yourself'

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basis and by moonlighting. Such predictionsare based on the rising costs of services purchasedfrom large organizationsand the parallel decline of the price of the capital goods necessary to perform these service activities at home. If this tendency proves to be true, it would result in a future quite different from that predicted by the "post-industrialsociety" hypothesis.

All these productiveor income-generatingactivities in the households and in small units are difficult to measureby traditionalstatisticaltechniques. As Gershuny (1979) stated, estimates of these household and communal activities may be made on the basis of the time devotedto them, andthe best way to obtain this informationis the time budget survey.

Hungaryis an interestingexample of the existence of these activitiesand of the attempts to measure them by time budgets. Since the introductionof reforms in 1968, governmentalpolicy graduallychanged from toleranceand legalization to the stimulation of these supplementaryincome-producing activities. The most widespreadform of them is the small-scale agricultural production on household and auxiliary plots, i.e. in the courtyardand on small plots in the villages and in the smallertowns. A time budget survey of the households having such a plot in 1972-1973 showed on the one handthat not only peasants but also half the workers participatedin small-scale agriculturalproductionand that their time input was substantial.The data on the working time put into these small plots has led to the conclusion that the income per hour generatedwas relativelylow, certainlylower thanthe hourly wage rate in the large agriculturalproductionunits (Oros & Schindele 1977).

Contraryto general expectations,the nationaltime budget survey of 19761977 in Hungarydemonstratedthatthe total work time inputof the population (2.7 thousandmillion working hours per year for a populationof about 10.6 million) had in fact not changed since the survey of 1972-1973 and has increased since the previous national time budget of 1963 (Andorka et al 1982). The new time budget survey of the householdshaving household and auxiliary plots (Oros & Schindele 1985) confirmedthis estimate and proved the continuing stabilityof the workingtime input, in spite of the fact that the numberof persons employed in agricultureand the numberliving in villages declined and the numberof peasantshaving experience in private agriculture diminished. Hungarianagriculturewas completely collectivized in 1961.

Two other productiveactivities performedoutside the big productiveorganizations, namely privatehousebuilding(carriedon mostly in the framework of mutual help) and the repair and maintenanceof consumer durableswere also found to be importantin Hungary(Andorka 1984). Repair and maintenance activities in the householdwere registeredalso by the Americansurvey of 1975-1976, and a model was developed to explain the amount of these activities (M. S. Hill 1985).

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Although the informaleconomy seems to be expandingin many advanced societies, the Hungariancase is considered to be special in many respects.

First of all the combinationof employmentin the so-called "socialist"sector, i.e. in enterprisesin state ownershipand in cooperatives,with work done after the regular working hours in the informal sector proved to be more widespreadthan in Poland, and this "doubling"of work for income hardlyexists in Finland (Adamczuk et al 1984). Thus it.seems that if there exists a general tendency toward a more importantrole of the informal economy and "selfservice" society, its actualforms are very differentin the particularsocieties.

Time budget data might be used also to estimatethe actual amountof time of laborforce participation,or it might be used to controlfor the dataobtained by other methods, e.g. by household sample surveys. The American time budget survey of 1975-1976 found that the hours of work per week obtained from these lattermentionedsourceswere substantiallyoverstatedas compared to the time budget data (Juster 1985b).

Time budget surveys providing data on the time devoted to marketwork, household work, and other activitiesprovidethe posibility to study empirically the relationshipsproposed by the economic theory of household behavior (Becker 1965, 1977; Ghez & Becker 1975). Accordingto this theory, persons and households allocate theirtotal availabletime-not only duringthe shorter periods but over the life cycle-on the basis of economic calculationsso that they producethe maximumof benefit for themselves. Thus, it is arguedthat the division of labor between the spouses follows economic rationality:The husbandusually engages more in marketwork because he can attaina higher wage than his wife, who thereforetakes over most of the household chores.

The alternativesociological theory stresses the importanceof roles embedded in values and norms, i.e. the husbandis expectedto play the role of breadwinner and the wife is expected to do the role of the housewife. Hill & Juster (1985) were able to model the householddivision of labortasks on the basis of American data from 1975-1976. Both market wage rates and stereotypes were shown to influence the division of tasks between the spouses; the role expectations, however, seem to be stronger. Analysts have attempted to construct an econometric model of lifetime fertility, childcare, and labor supply of the household (Hill & Stafford 1985).

Social Accounting, Social Indicators, Well-Being, Quality of Life In the 1960s, statisticians, economists, and sociologists became more and more dissatisfied with the use of national income and the gross domestic productas measuresof well-being and of economic and social developments.

There were, therefore, endeavors to enlarge the number of indicators, for

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example, the work of housewives. Systems of social accountingand studies of social indicatorsand of qualityof life increased.The resultsof time budget surveys were taken into considerationby these new research directions.

Time budget surveys might obviously be used to determinethe length of householdworkingtime for variousmembersof the household. If the value or shadow price of an hour of household work can somehow be estimated, it might be included in the national income, avoiding in that way the old and justified critiquepointing out that the work of the domestic servantis partof the national income, whereas the work of the wife is not.

The social indicators movement tries to give a more realistic view of welfare by acknowledging that welfare is a multidimensionalconcept and income is only one of its dimensions. It has been proposedthat the amountof leisure time ought to be included in measuresof welfare (Beckerman1978).

Eight types of social indicatorswere proposed(As 1982) to be based on time budgets: (a) the amount of free time, (b) the amount of free time spent on various activities, (c) the amountof free time spent outside the home, (d) the amount of free time spent alone, with membersof own household, and with others, (e) the rate of participation(percentageof persons) in selected free time activities over a given period, (I) the geographical accessibility to selected leisure facilities, (g) the flexibility of working hours, (h) subjective measures of problems in relation to daily time allocations-e.g. is there enough time for certain activities?

A related but somewhat different and more ambitious approachwas proposed by R. Stone (1974). He constructeda set of social and demographic statistics and presented a series of tables that demonstratedthe flows of the populationamong differentcategoriesduringthe period of observation.Time budgets and models of the allocation of time were mentioned as possible elements of such a system.

Recently Justeret al (1981a, b) proposeda much more elaborateaccounting system that included time allocation. According to these authors, the time devoted to differentactivities influences the well-being of individualsin three ways: (a) activities produce flows of materialgoods, (b) activities alter the levels of resources and their contexts-e.g. the social and political environment-which have a strong impact on the well-being, and (c) activities themselves have positive or negative "processbenefits"-some activities are enjoyable while other cause a feeling of discomfort.

Juster(1985d) tried to measurethese process benefits by data collected in the 1975-1976 time budget survey in the United States. Respondentswere asked to record their level of enjoyment of some 22 activities on a scale rangingfrom 10 to 0. The activities with own children(talking, trips, games) got the highest scores and household chores usually low scores. The most

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remarkablefinding seems to be that working at the job received a relatively high score.

Michelson (1986) attemptedto measurethe subjectiveaspects of daily life by another method, namely by asking the respondents to evaluate each activity in their time budget on two scales. One of the scales measuredthe tension involved in the activity, the otherassessed the degree thatrespondents viewed the activities as voluntary or involuntary.

Patrushev(1982) tried to measurethe general satisfactionwith free time in the Soviet Union by asking whetherthe respondentwould prefer (a) to have more free time with the existing working hours and wages, (b) to have more free time with a shorterworking day and lower wages, (c) to have less free time and earn more. Remarkably,few workerspreferredhigher wages at the expense of less free time. Therefore, he concluded that in the Soviet society an increased demand for free time is developing.

Campbellet al (1976) integratedthe evaluationof the time budgetinto their methodology of quality of life surveys. Andrews & Withey (1974) also included questions on the use of time in the methodologyof investigatingthe perceived quality of life. Szalai (1980) consideredthat the individualuse of time is an indicator of the quality of life of the given person.

The Exploration of the "Style of Life" Although the "way of life" or "style of life" is a concept used in sociology at least since Max Weber (Lebensftihrung),it came to the forefrontof sociology in Europeansocialist countriesaround1970. The greaterinterestwas justified by stating that the materialstandardof living had attainedsuch a level that it became increasingly more importantto consider how the increased income was spent and how the increasedfree time was used (see e.g. Bolgov 1964, Patrushev1969, Gordon& Klopov 1972, USSR Academy of Sciences 1981, Lippold & Manz 1982). The operationalizationof the theoreticalconcept of "style" or "way" of life was, however, difficult. Hungarian sociologists defined the "way of life" as the system of activities of the members of the society (Kulcsar 1976). This definition seems to be more or less accepted by the sociologists in the European socialist societies. From this definition it follows that the time budget survey is one of the principal techniques to investigate the contours of citizens' way of life.

The research involving way of life is similar to the somewhat vague researchinto everydaylife in the Westernsocieties (Weigert 1981). Although this researchdirection intends to embracethe meaning given to the everyday activities in addition to the allocation of time and the movements in space (Douglas 1970), the core of the empiricalinvestigationsseems to involve the pattern of activities.

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Social Structure In the famous three dimensionalscheme of Max Weber, the "Stinde"dimension (translatedinto English as "status,"althoughthe exact meaningis nearer to "estate"in the feudal sense) is manifestedby esteem and by the way of life or style of life. Thus, differences in the way of life can help to locate the boundariesbetween status groups.

Therefore, time budget survey data,recommend themselves for the investigation of status differences as an element of social structure. Ferge (1972) emphasized this point in the analysis of data of the 12-nation internationaltime budget survey, statingthat the more privileged stratashow a more variateduse of their free time. Also, Wnuk-Lipinski(1972) found that in Poland the more privileged groups devoted more time to culturalactivities and to active sports, although the difference in free time activities among various social stratawas not very large. The Hungariansurvey of 1975-1976, however, demonstrateda surprisingtrend:The differencesof total contracted and committedtime had increased since the first survey in 1963 (Andorkaet al 1982). The main reason for this result was the great difference in the time devoted to activities outside the main workingplace producingsupplementary income, e.g. the time spent in small-scaleagriculturalproduction.It might be concluded that in Hungarythere is a slow tendency toward the reductionof the differences in income and living conditions, due to the fact that many citizens were spending increased time in agriculturalactivities outside the work place. This great extrawork inputoccurredmainly in the lower strataof society, first of all among the peasants and the semi- and unskilled workers residing in the ruralareas. The less free time for individualsin the lower strata obviously resultedin a much lower participationin culturalactivities and less time for recreation in general. Therefore, it was concluded that it is not possible to get a realistic picture of the present Hungariansociety without taking into considerationthe differences in ways of life. In other advanced countrieslike Finland, the amountof free time is usually less differentiatedby social categories, but the use of this free time, the leisure activities, seem to be similar within particularsocial strata (Adamczuket al 1984).

Intertemporaland InternationalComparison As several countrieshave alreadyconductedtwo or more nationaltime budget surveys, the possibility exists to make intertemporalcomparisons,to analyze the changes in time use. Although Gutenschwager's(1973) statement that time budgets may ultimatelybe the only way of truly assessing social change seems to be somewhat exaggerated, the comparisonof the results of several time budget surveys in a given society providesa good basis to ascertainsome importantsocial changes. Patrushev(1979) could do the comparisonfor one town in the Soviet Union for a 47-year period (1924-1971), by using the

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survey of Strumilinin the 1920s. The Japanesehave data since 1960 (Furukawa 1976).

When comparing the time use data of the United States, Robinson & Converse (1972) stated 14 years ago thatpropheciesthatAmericawas turning into a "leisure society" were at least premature, if not inaccurate. In the 1960s, American people seemed to have even less free time than in earlier decades. The comparison of the 1965 -1966 and the 1975-1976 survey, however, showed some decline in the time spent in work-relatedactivities for employed men and women, an importantdecline in the household work of women, an increase of about 10%in free time, in which the sharplyincreasing time spent in television viewing was predominant(Robinson 1985b). On the basis of the follow-up survey in 1980-1981, Juster(1985c) found a trend toward more nearly equal division of labor between husbandsand wives, as wives worked more at the market and less in the household, while their husbandsworkedsomewhatshorterhoursat the marketand longer time in the household. The increase in television viewing time seems to have stopped, maybe even to have reversed.

As the introductionindicated, the upsurge of time budget analysis was initiated by the international survey of 1965-1966. Some interesting, althoughtentativeconclusions of the internationalcomparisonof time budgets were the following: 1. Industrializationhas a considerableimpactof the use of time of societies, i.e. on their everyday life (Robinson et al 1972). On the basis of pairwise country-by-countrycomparionsof the differences of time budgets a remarkable "map" of the investigated societies could be constructed:the first axis of this "map"orderedthe countries in an East-West dimension from the USSR and Bulgariato the GermanFederalRepublic and the United States; the second axis orderedthem in a North-Southdimension from the United States and the USSR to Peru. The East was characterizedby more work at the main working place, more readingof books, more cinema attendance, the West by more television viewing and more social contacts, etc. The North-Southdimension was differentiatedmost of all by the place where the free time was spent: in the North more time was spent at home, in the South on the street(Converse 1972). Recently some bilateraland trilateral comparisons were made on the basis of the more recent national surveys (Adamczuk et al 1984, Harvey & Gr0nmo 1986). These introducedother variables in the analysis-e.g. per capita national income, employment by branches, income inequality, social mobility, ownership of consumer durables-and demonstratedthat the differences among time budgets exist between societies at similar levels of developmentand that these might well be interpretedin terms of the economic and sociological characteristicsof the societies. A new internationaltime budget survey, however, seems to be highly desirable.

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CONCLUDINGREMARKS The study of time budgets appears to be a research direction with many potentialuses. Its futuredevelopmentand spreadwill dependprobablyon the willingness of the members of societies to be engaged in rather long and complicatedinterviews(or in rathertime-consumingwork, if they preparethe diaries themselves), on the developmentof more refined methods for analyzing and modelling data, and on the ability to include a wider spectrum of sociological variablesin the analysis. Internationalcooperationwas an important factor stimulating development in this field, and it is hoped that such cooperation will continue.

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