Here is a quote from Allen Johnson that seemed to resonate in class:
“As a result of producing and consuming more, we are experiencing an increasing scarcity of time. This works in the following way. Increasing efficiency in production means that each individual must produce more goods per hour; increased productivity means … that to keep the system going we must consume more goods. Free time gets converted into consumption time because time spent neither producing nor consuming comes increasingly to be viewed as wasted … The increase in the value of time (its increasing scarcity) is felt subjectively as an increase in tempo or pace. We are always in danger of being slow on the production line or late to work; and in our leisure we are always in danger of wasting time.”
This quote comes from his book The Evolution of Human Societies, which he wrote with archaeologist Timothy Earle in 2000.
If you want a bit more background on the key elements of tempo identified by Robert Levine, here is a synopsis that he wrote for the New York Times as a plug for his book. I will leave it here where it is easy for you all to find, then file it on the ANTH 204 page at the end of term!
Enjoy the treadmill, and see you on Thursday!