In this chapter I argue that the experienced shortage of and anxiety over leisure time is a widespread cultural phenomenon with an important qualitative dimension, and not therefore the preserve of the people with the longest working hours. The degradation of leisure needs to be understood as a symptom of the broader tendency of economic demands to colonize everyday life. At a time when education risks becoming little more than a joyless pursuit of certification for work, when our interactions with others are often shaped by a need for career advancement, and when unemployment has been turned into ‘job-seeking’ – itself a form of work – how much of our time can we confidently call our own? When, precisely, are we genuinely released from the demand to either produce or consume economic weal...