However it is really only in the past decade that we have witnessed the extension of shift working far beyond its traditional location. Now it is the call centre workers, shop staff and bank employees rather than miners and factory hands that emerge red eyed into the dawn. The author of the seminal 'Twenty Four Hour Society', Leon Kreitzman applauds this move to longer hours on the premise that it is a panacea for capitalist society's ills. He argues that old ways are restrictive and less competitive and that to get ahead and stay ahead companies need to drag their workforces, kicking and screaming into the twenty four hour world. The move towards a 24 hour working day is a classic example of how the needs of the capitalist economy are privileged over those of working people.
Human beings have a gamut of internal timed mechanisms.
The body clock, situated in the hypothalamus in the brain, works by timing our bodily processes, such as metabolism, mood, hormone secretions and behaviour. These functions peak and trough in a regular, predictable cycle over 24 hours. In general terms they reach a low ebb around the early hours of the morning. Without the influence of external time cues, the body clock tends to run over 25 hour cycles. However environmental factors such as the day-night cycle, social activity and even our knowledge of clock time entrain us to a 'natural' 24 hour cycle.