Introduction

In a critical, comparative study of the sociological literature, this book explores the term “time,” and the various interconnections between time and a broad cluster of topics that create a conceptual labyrinth. Various understandings of time manifest themselves in the context of many individual social problems—there is no single vision in sociology of how to grasp time and address within social theory.

Purpose and Approach

This book, therefore, attempts to define an approach to the concept of time and its associated terms (duration, temporality, acceleration, compression, temporal structures, change, historical consciousness, and others). The volume is guided by a critical engagement with three main questions:

• a) the formation of human understanding of time;
• b) the functioning of temporal structures at different levels of social reality;
• c) the role and place of time in general sociological theory.