‘Helga Nowotny’s exploration of the forms and meaning of time in
contemporary life is panoramic without in any way partaking of the
blandness of a survey. From the artificial time of the scientific
laboratory to the distinctively modern yearning for one’s own
time, she regards every topic in this wide-ranging book from a
fresh angle of vision, one which reveals unsuspected affinities
between the bravest, newest worlds of global technology and the
most ancient worlds of myth...
‘Helga Nowotny’s exploration of the forms and meaning of time in
contemporary life is panoramic without in any way partaking of the
blandness of a survey. From the artificial time of the scientific
laboratory to the distinctively modern yearning for one’s own
time, she regards every topic in this wide-ranging book from a
fresh angle of vision, one which reveals unsuspected affinities
between the bravest, newest worlds of global technology and the
most ancient worlds of myth.’
–Lorraine Daston, University of Chicago
This book represents a major contribution to the understanding
of time, giving particular attention to time in relation to
modernity. The development of industrialism, the author points out,
was based upon a linear and abstract conception of time. Today we
see that form of production, and the social institutions associated
with it, supplanted by flexible specialization and just-in-time
production systems. New information and communication technologies
have made a fundamental impact here. But what does all this mean
for temporal regimes? How can we understand the transformation of
time and space involved in the bewildering variety of options on
offer in a postmodern world?
The author provides an incisive analysis of the temporal
implications of modern communication. She considers the
implications of worldwide simultaneous experience, made possible by
satellite technologies, and considers the reorganization of time
involved in the continuous technological innovation that marks our
era. In this puzzling universe of action, how does one achieve a
‘time of one’s own’? The discovery of a specific time perspective
centred in the individual, she shows, expresses a yearning for
forms of experience that are subversive of established
institutional patterns.
This brilliant study, became a classic in Germany, will be of
interest to students and professionals working in the areas of
social theory, sociology, politics and anthropology.
