The essay deals with the thought of E.P. Thompson with reference to the transformation of work behavior. Moving from the presentation of his peculiar historiographical approach, the essay critically examines the article he devoted to the emergence of a discipline, at work and in everyday life, that made the establishment of the capitalist industrial model possible. The categories of task-oriented work of pre-industrial societies, and time-oriented work of industrialized societies, are discussed. The main elements through which working and non-working time has been regulated and the emergence of new forms of leisure are presented. In closing, the applicability of the two categories as ideal types for reading the forms of work in the industrial societies of the global world is proposed.