The Textures of Time: Agency and Temporal Experience

What do we mean when we say,”I made the time pass more quickly,”� or,”I’m creating some ‘me’ time”�? In The Textures of Time, Michael Flaherty examines how we alter or customize our experience of time. His detailed analysis reveals different strategies we use to try to manipulate time, further describing and defining those strategies within six discrete time categories: Duration, Frequency, Sequence, Timing, Allocation, and Taking Time. Using in-depth interviews and analyzing responses through a sociological lens, Flaherty unearths folk theories and practices, which he calls”time work,”� that construct circumstances in order to provoke desired forms of temporal experience. As such, time is not justinflicted on us; rather, its various textures result from our intervention, and/or from our efforts to create different forms of temporal experience. These first-person accounts also highlight ongoing tensions between agency and determinism in social groups. Ultimately, in keeping with his central thesis, Flaherty’s lucid prose make this book a quick read, and the strategies he describes reveal the profound and inventive ways we”manage the clock.”� Additional ISBNs1439902631, 9781439902639The Textures of Time: Agency and Temporal Experience is written by Michael G. Flaherty and published by Temple University Press. ISBNs for The Textures of Time are 9781439902646, 143990264X and the print ISBNs are 9781439902622, 1439902623. Additional ISBNs include 1439902631, 9781439902639.