In this paper the author attempts to highlight the socio-historical logic of the dialectic between (paid) labour and free time among industrial societies with a market economy. The main stages of a cultural mutation are shown and related to changes in the global social structure. On the eve of post-industrial society, a new orientation toward life (ethos), which developed within the framework of free time, privacy and leisure activities, has come to dominate all sectors of human life. The possibility that this new orientation could help to overcome the antinomy between work (as paid labour) and free-time activities is discussed.