A dangerous proximity : the night-time economy and the city's early morning

In most human cultures the night has been associated with forms of danger or evil, and the breakdown of feudalism and rise of urban industrial capitalism reflected these concerns in new ways. Extended personal relations of control were displaced by exploitation in the private market and forms of contract labour that shaped the rhythms and order of daytime work. Time itself was more closely watched and measured by the owners of capital. Furthermore, it was fought over by socialists and labour activists in campaigns to reduce the length of working days. The backdrop to new industrial understandings of time was the sharp distinction between productive work and unproductive leisure (Melbin, 1978).