Time and Social Theory

The paper first discusses fundamental issues raised for social theory by the concept of `social time' and investigates how the concept is delineated from other discipline-embedded ones. The second section reviews the concept of social time in the work of major social theorists, notably Mead, Elias, Giddens and Luhmann. The link or lack thereof to human agency is considered crucial. The third section examines briefly the numerous empirical contributions to the study of time that cover a wide variety of subfields of social research. Finally the present potential for `time studies' in the social sciences is assessed.