Dimensions of time and space in sociology

Abstract

Contemporary sociology has significantly changed the concept of space and time. According to Wallerstein, time and space represent a reality that sociology has long neglected. The situation is different in historical sciences, in which, as White states, the narrative approach prevails, and in historical sociology. The authors focus on time and space as ‘frames’ for the historically oriented explanation. Thus, time can be understood in different ways — as passing, duration, measure, moment appropriate for an action or change. Different forms of time represent different ‘frames’ for interpreting social events. Space is often interpreted in the relational perspective — as an order of relations formed by interacting subjects. The frame, in which we place an event, determines how we see and think about space and time. Reflections on time were significantly influenced by Braudel, who distinguished three levels of historical time. Today, the issue of space and time-space is considered by social geography, which provides some insights for sociology, as Giddens shows, especially when examining modernization and globalization. The sociological concept of time-space was developed by Wallerstein, who distinguished five types of space-time: episodic-geopolitical, conjunctural-ideological, structural, eternal, and transformative. These types of space-time provide different perspectives for the analysis of specific historical events. One of the reasons why Wallerstein places such an emphasis on space-time is that he believes that we are in the transformative time-space, which marks the end of the long structural spacetime of the world system. Therefore, we face opposing historical choices and have no certainty, except that every step we take will have serious consequences.