Time in Constructed Social Reality

Time and, more precisely, time concepts are a cross-cutting issue which have been studied by different disciplines from different perspectives (see e.g. Damasio 2001 for neuroscientific research on time-induced emotions; Wittmann 2016 for psychological brain research on perception of time; Zimbardo und Boyd 2008 for socio-psychological research on time constructs and their influence on current action; Taylor 2002 on subjective time and present concepts in virtual computer games). In sociology time is often seen as a pivotal element of the social order (Elias 1984; Sorokin und Merton 1937; Bourdieu 2000; Rosa 2015, 2019; Vostal 2020). Because of this interdisciplinarity and omnipresence, dealing with the subject of time opens up diverse perspectives for looking at the construction of social reality. Time has been studied by different disciplines, eliciting various theories and concepts as a central element of the social life. This book conceptualizes time as a non-linear construct, which depends upon individual past experiences, collective historical memories, percepted present constraints and opportunities and projected futures. Our paper introduces the book and documents the wide range of different perspectives and analyses on time in current sociological research that offers Advances in research on Time.