Avant le « temps de travail » industriel, des « rythmes du labeur »

It is problematic to speak of ?working time? in France before the industrialization: in this primarily agricultural economy, salaried employees are a minority, multiple activity is common, and a national legislation is lacking. Instead of ?working time?, one should speak of ?rhythms of labour?, varying according to occupations, places, and periods of time in the year. To capture the main features of these ?rhythms of labour?, we focus first on their entanglements with natural rhythms (sun, seasons), then with religious rhythms (canonical hours, Sunday, holidays), before addressing the issues of salaried employment and capitalistic imperative for higher productivity that gradually led to the emergence of the modern meaning of ?working time?.