"Time for Things seeks an answer to the question of why, in mature industrial capitalist societies, increasing productivity has tended to get used to increase output and consumption as opposed to reducing the burden of work. Put simply, why do we live in a world so full of goods, many of which...

"This book is the third study done by the Research Group on Social Structure Change in Contemporary China, a group affiliated with the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The group has focused on the process of development and change in contemporary Chinese social...