The empirical data for such an analysis are available in their rudiments, but fragmented and tied to local patterns of inquiry as the calendars and calculations of time in medieval towns once were. Thus here is just one example of a historical change in the social allocation of time, empirical findings which, like all others, are open to interpretation. The extension and gradual reduction of working hours underwent a dramatic development in Europe from the beginning of the machine age on. In Germany, for instance, the ten- to twelve-hour day, which prevailed around 1800, rose to eleven to fourteen hours in 1820. In the period between 1830 and 1860, that period in which the first statutory reduction was achieved by the labour movement in England in the form of the Ten-Hour Bill, working hours in Germany grew to fourteen to sixteen hours.16 Sundays and holidays were lost in many cases, and weekly working hours shot up accordingly. The turning point occurred only with socio-political legislation around 1870.
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Politics of Time