Copyright: 1997
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465026427
A Geography of Time: The temporal misadventures of a social psychology is a delightful and fascinating read by Robert Levine. Levine, a professor of social psychology, takes the reader around the world examining how various cultures and people's tell, interpret and use their time. In one of the chapters he takes a short diversion from the trip to examine a brief history of time and the telling of time. When I picked up this book I wasn't sure what to think of it but I am very glad I took the time to give it a read.
Social Time
Different people in different cultures view time differently. We have all heard the stories about Latin American countries where "time seems to stop" and the "manana" culture of Mexico or Brazil. Levine explains that this is not just because there is nothing to do in these countries... it is because they view time quite differently than we do here in America.
When looking at the pace of life there are a number of facets to time:
- Tempo - Pace of life
- Rhythm - Work, Play, Sleep ....
- Sequences - Work before play? Play before work?
- Synchonies - How attuned are your activities to others?
When viewing these facets across countries and regions, a number of factors come into play:
- Industrialization
- Climate
- Population
- Cultural values
Levine started out to explore whether or not the stereotypical beliefs about different cultures and regions were indeed true. His extensive research proved that indeed, the stereotypes were fairly accurate. Rather than detail what we already know however, Levine explores some of what we might not know about these stereotypes and how we can use our temporal knowledge to our advantage.
RULES OF TIME
- Time is money (in most cultures!)
- Law of supply and demand regulate the length of lines for waiting
- We value what we have to wait for
- Status dictates who waits for whom
- The longer the people will wait for you, the greater your status
- Money can buy you a place at the front
- The more powerful person controls who waits
- Waiting can be an effective means of control (patience!)
- Time can be given as a gift
When dealing with someone from another culture, it is very easy to be ethnocentric and view their perspective on time as wrong or bad. When I shared some things from this book with an acquaintance recently she exclaimed "well no wonder those people in those poor countries are so poor... they don't value time like we do!" While there is some truth to that, there is also some truth to the fact that we value our time more precisely because we are indeed rich. Correlation and causation are not always easy to see!
Psychological Clock
Understanding an entire society and how they view time is interesting but our view of time can change on a very personal level as well. Duration is essentially our perception of time. How long does it seem to take to do something? Ever had a Monday just drag by very slowly? Ever had a weekend fly by in a flash? That is duration in a nutshell.
Some factors of duration are:
- Pleasantness of the experience
- Urgency of the task
- How much physical activity is taking place
- Variety
- Creative involvement (time-free or flow tasks)
History of Clock Time
The third chapter of Levine's book covers a history of time keeping with a particular focus on America. Some interesting factoids I gleaned were:
- The railroads were the ones pushing for 4 times zones in America. With close to 8,000 different times zones across the country, it was difficult to schedule trains!
- Cincinnati refused for a long time to acknowledge the new railroad times zones. They printed the railroad schedules with a notice at the top stating "This is Cincinnati Time. 22 minutes faster than railroad time."!
- Time was marketed... or more accurately, the telling of time was heavily marketed by those selling watches and time clocks.
- It wasn't really all that long ago that 'telling time" was a matter of looking at the clock or seeing what part of the pasture the cows were in.
There is a lot more intersting material in this chapter and I would encourage anyone who likes this sort of thing to pick up the book, even if it's only to read this chapter!
Random Thoughts
An interesting perspective on the Japanese culture is that there is very little difference between "work time" and "family time". Their culture of collectivism rewards them for collective effort rather than individual effort so their view of time takes that into account. There is no such thing as "my time" or "company titme".
Another interesting note was the concept that poverty is consistent with "present-mindedness". People in extreme poverty don't plan for or take into consideration the future. In fact one of the toughest transitions for children from these homes going to school is moving to an environment where time is a factor. Imagine a child who has never had a structured life at home who shows up at school to color a paper and has it taken away before they are done because it is 10 o'clock and time for juice. Then they get in trouble for getting up to look at the gerbil because it's not time for that now. Many of the problems faced by inner-city children are caused by a basic lack of understanding of time.
Clock Time vs. Event Time
In America everything happens on clock time. We depend on the clock to tell us when to do certain things. In some cultures however they depend on event time. Events are the important thing... not the clock.
This has interesting side effects. For instance, a study showed that overweight people tend to eat "because it's time to eat" whereas average weight people tend to eat "because they are hungry". In this case, clearly allowing the event (hunger) to drive things is better than allowing the clock to do so.
Another thought experiment is this. What if a professor has an appointment at 11:30 with a 4.0 student to check in on grades. At 11:20 a student steps in that has been struggling for months to generate ideas for a doctoral thesis... and they have just stumbled on one. Do you make the 4.0 student wait while you take time for the troubled student? Or do you push the troubled student out the door because "it's time to take my next appointment"? What is more valuable... sticking to the clock or helping your students reach their full potential?
Lessons for Travel
When visiting a different culture, here are some tips of understanding the temporal shift that is likely to happen:
- Learn to translate appointment times to local time
- Understand the line between social and work time
- Learn the local rules of the waiting game
- Learn to reinterpret "doing nothing"
- Ask about accepted sequences
- Are you operating on clock time or event time?
Conclusion
Hands down the most enjoyable and interesting book I have read in some time. I loved this book and strongly recommend it to anyone, even if it's just for the chapter on the history of time keeping!