What drives people to spend hours commuting to and from work?
Friday, October 30, 2015 - 06:20
in Psychology & Sociology
There is indeed a glamorous side to the star performer who "spends half his life in the air between New York and Singapore." Then there is the reality of people who spend two hours every day in a train, bus or car. Sociologists call them 'highly mobile' people, whether or not they choose to commute so far and regardless of whether this brings them a big paycheck or career success. Researchers at EPFL's Urban Sociology Laboratory analyzed how this phenomenon has evolved over the past 10 years in four European countries: Switzerland, France, Germany and Spain. Their work has now been published in book form. In it, they show how people increasingly accept long commutes in response to economic difficulties.