Making Time: Agency and the Construction of Temporal Experience

Abstract

In this note, I conceptualize four models of causal processes that govern various dimensions of temporal experience. The rst is classic determinism, while the other three are variations on the theme of self-determination. Efforts at self-determination are de ned as forms of agency that I call time work. These agentic practices involve attempts to control, manipulate, or customize one's own temporality or that of others. I draw empirical instances of determinism from 705 rst-person descriptions of circumstances during which time was perceived to pass slowly. Examples of self-determination come from in-depth interviews with 408 subjects.My interest in temporality began with a question concerning causality: What makes for variation in the perceived passage of time? As I pursued this research, the weight of accumulating evidence suggested that perceived duration is modulated by our immediate circumstances-that is, the interplay between self and situation (Flaherty 1999). My analytic framework was derived from classic determinism; there is a cause (variation in one's circumstances) and an effect (variation in the perceived passage of time).Along the way, however, I noticed cases where, in a sense, people had asked themselves, "What kind of temporal experience do I want to have?" Then, having answered this question, they had taken steps to bring into being circumstances that provoked the desired form of temporal experience. These individuals had constructed their own circumstances and had done so, moreover, with the intention to shape the perceived passage of time. Rather than be at the mercy of forces beyond their ken or control, these people seemed to be exercising a measure of selfdetermination. Paraphrasing Sanders (1989), they were customizing temporal expe-THEORETICAL NOTE

Age Identity in Context

“…In some sense, these relations define the course of age identity from one point to ten years in the future. Just as time's passage in a discrete instance is modified by contextual stimuli rooted in the immediate environment (Flaherty 1999(Flaherty , 2002, the aspects of personal identity tied to a temporal referent are affected by the nature of durable life-course structures.…”

“…Overlapping with the obvious chronological continuum on which life events occur, however, is another, internalized clock. This subjective sense involves people's active attempts to slow down or speed up the passage of time (Flaherty 2002), as well as people's construction of an age-based identity based on present life conditions (Johnson, Berg, and Sirotzki 2007;Logan, Ward, and Spitze 1992;Westerhof and Barrett 2005) and pivotal life experiences from their pasts (Schafer 2009). This paper builds on age identity research and considers stress-based shifts in age identity over a ten-year period.…”

Unemployment and its association with health-relevant actions: investigating the role of time perspective with German census data

“…Regarding our research question, we concentrate on the temporal dimension of action that has often been accentuated in action theory (Boudon 1980;Emirbayer and Mische 1998;Flaherty 2002). Specifically, we look at an actor's 'time perspective' that is the extent to which an actor is oriented towards future, past or present events and trajectories of action (Henson et al 2006).…”

Island Time: The Media Logic and Ritual of Ferry Commuting on Gabriola Island, BC

“…Indeed, Jessica is "wasting" time if we understand time as a limited resource defined by the logic of the monetary economy, but she is "making" time if we define it by the prevalent aesthetic code existent on Gabriola Island. Borrowing from Flaherty (1999Flaherty ( , 2002, we could say that Jessica and other islanders in similar situations are doing "time work": engaging in "agentic practices designed to control or manipulate aspects of temporality" (Flaherty, 2002, p. 387).…”