International audienceThis chapter attempts to analyse the ways in which the trends and stakes of working time have changed during recent decades (section 1.2). The utility of the concept of “decent working time” will then be examined in the light of these changes, by emphasizing its heuristic contribution, and the perspectives and implications that the term suggests in respect of working time policy (section 1.3). The limits and even the paradoxes of such a concept when applied to a heterogeneous world of national spaces can thus be stipulated. The paradoxes and contradictions of policies, in this case EU ones, will then be stressed (section 1.4). Finally, we will show how the notion of “decent working time” suggests some reconfigurations of these policies (section 1.5)
