The Problem of Time in Sociology

Abstract

This survey of sociological and psychological literature deals with the problem of time, covering major areas of sociology and related disciplines (economics, cultural anthropology, psychology and history). As a preface, contributions by the classical writers on the sociology of time are discussed briefly - Durkheim, Schütz, Sorokin and Merton, G.H. Mead. Six themes in the contemporary sociology of time (up to 1982) are examined: (1) time perspective and time orientation; (2) temporal ordering and social structure: time reckoning and the social construction of time schedules; (3) the time structure of specific social systems and professions: the economy, the legal system, the family, and formal organizations; (4) the evolution of social consciousness of time; (5) social change and time; and (6) the concern with time in social theory and methodology. It is shown that sociology has much to learn from its neighbouring disciplines, that no thorough sociological treatment of time has yet been done and, above all, that there is a lack of empirical studies that are adequately grounded in theory.