Time and Culture
Most people assume that time is just time, one second is one second regardless of the context, and this is true but how that second is understood depends on the culture and context. The article below gives a semi-business focused account of different cultures attitudes towards time.
In western, Anglo-Saxon, countries time is viewed as linear — flowing from the past to the future. Time is seen as something not to be wasted and adherence to strict schedules and mono-chronic practices is accepted as the best way not to “waste time” and accomplish goals efficiently. In contrast many southern European countries could be described as using “Multi-active time” — taking into account more consciously the lived reality vs the segmented schedule. To summarize…
“In countries inhabited by linear-active people, time is clock- and calendar- related, segmented in an abstract manner for our convenience, measurement, and disposal. In multi-active cultures like the Arab and Latin spheres, time is event- or personality-related, a subjective commodity which can be manipulated, molded, stretched, or dispensed with, irrespective of what the clock says”
Lastly the author talks about “cycle time” practiced in a lot of Eastern traditions which views time as recurring, not linear, and not as in need of strict planning.
These are obviously just a few general outlines of how time is understood and integrated into society differently but it is important to keep in mind when talking about the influence of technology on cultures. These differences show how a technologies (in this case the clock) affects are not uniform but rather are molded according to the culture and history it is in.
