The exchange relations between the public use of time, that is spent with – paid – work, and the private, mainly unpaid use, are distributed extremely unequally in society. Publicly spent time, for the purpose of paid work, is an important prerequisite for the fact that time can also be spent privately. But it is easily overlooked that a good part of time privately applied also represents an indispensable prerequisite for its public use. The political aspect of this is the exchange relation. To the extent that everyday life is politically revalued, as time which belongs to the citizens, and that their contributions to the general welfare are made politically apparent, demands arise. New rights – everyday rights – become capable of formulation.7 Time becomes the potential medium of exchange between quantity and quality of time, since in the extended present both have to be calibrated anew.
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Politics of Time