The Textures of Time: Agency and Temporal Experience

192 Pages·2010·0.97 MB·English

by  Michael G. Flaherty

The Textures of Time

Michael G. Flaherty
The Textures of Time
Agency and Temporal Experience
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
www .temple. edu/ tempress
Copyright © 2011 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Flaherty, Michael G.
The textures of time : agency and temporal experience /
Michael G. Flaherty.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 1- 4399- 0262- 2 (cloth : alk. paper) –
ISBN 978- 1- 4399- 0263- 9 (pbk. : alk. paper) –
ISBN 978- 1- 4399- 0264- 6 (electronic) 1. Time perception.
2. Time perspective. 3. Time meas ure ments. I. Title.
BF468.F568 2011
153.7'53– dc22
2010018214
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992
Printed in the United States of America
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
For Rachel

Contents
Ac knowl edgm ents ix
1 Making Time 1
2 Duration 14
3 Frequency 36
4 Sequence 57
5 Timing 79
6 Allocation 98
7 Taking Time 115
8 The Ironies of Temporal Agency 131
Methodological Appendix 151
Notes 155
Index 173

Ac know ledg ments
W
ritten at the end but placed at the beginning, the ack nowl edgm ents
exemplify our manipulation of time. Their location in the text mis-
represents the actual sequence of experience when one is writing a
book. An author is ambitious at the beginning but humble and grateful at
the end.
Many people have helped me with my research for this project as well as
the publication of this book. First and foremost, I thank Clint Sanders for
bringing this manuscript to the attention of Janet Francendese, Editor- in-
Chief at Temple University Press. In turn, I thank Janet for passing the proj-
ect on to Mick Gusinde-D uffy, the Sen ior Acquisitions Editor for sociology.
Working with Mick has been delightful. I am grateful for the patient enthusi-
asm and sage advice with which he steered this project past every obstacle.
Mick arranged for three reviews of this manuscript. Two of the reviewers
chose to remain anonymous, but I thank them for their very helpful comments.
The third reviewer, Dan Ryan, not only responded to Mick’s questions, but also
provided ten pages of suggested revisions that have greatly enriched this book.
Indeed, there are many places in the text where I have used his wording verba-
tim. I thank Dan for his extraordinary generosity and keen insight.
Once again, Linda O’Bryant typed every word of this manuscript, from the
fi rst draft to the fi nal revisions, catching and correcting many of my mistakes
along the way. I am grateful for her assistance. In addition, I thank Lloyd Chapin
for his support, especially the funds with which I hired my research assistants:
Dianna Bass- Campolo, Betony Beddingfi eld, Carly Berdine, Meghann Carey,