The consolidation process of the industrial mode of production slowly configures a clear distinction between the working time and the free time. What relation can be established between this new dynamic of social times and the tensions related to the making of a new set of behaviours considered adequate for the consolidation of capitalism? This study aims at debating the dealing of this issue in the work of Edward Palmer Thompson. It seems possible to say that, for him, the controlling of the non-working time and the leisure practices was comprehended as an essential dimension in order to guaranteeing "progress".
leisure; Edward Palmer Thompson; Industrial Revolution; modernity