Time: Thinking About Time—It’s Complicated

Ideas about time have preoccupied philosophers, scientists and writers. This chapter introduces time as a social concept. Time is like money in one way—it’s a thing people need and use for just about all aspects of daily life that enable good health. But, unlike money, food, water or shelter, they can’t see or touch it, it is not a tangible thing. Time is elusive, and personal but this also means it is easily overlooked even while daily lives are controlled by it. Essential ideas about time are summarised and linked, drawing from political economy, sociology and economic insights. Different facets of time are explained, beyond the assumption time is just hours and minutes. As well as connecting time and money through the historical process of industrialisation, the chapter explores new experiences of time through technology and the speeding up of daily activities, including recent framings of modernity as social acceleration.