Abstract
Dear reader,
Welcome to the first issue of the new year. We begin with two items of news; one regretful, the other very happy. It was with not a little sorrow that we said farewell in 2018 to Hartmut Rosa, who has been editor-in-chief for our journal since 2009. Professor Rosa joined Time & Society already with a reputation as a world-class theorist of the sociology of time. Based in Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Hartmut, along with his hard-working and always dependable aide-de-camp, Robert Helbig, who also left us in 2018, brought a new dimension and a new depth of thought to the journal. One of Rosa’s themes is temporal acceleration, and his books and essays over the last fifteen or so years has raised it standing even higher in the community of sociologists and time scholars. One positive effect of his work on acceleration is that it provoked a great deal of response, in the form of submissions to Time & Society from authors that either developed his work to suite their own particular research area—or they critiqued it vigorously, and always in the spirit of collegiality. We look forward to seeing new and innovative work from Professor Rosa either in our journal or further afield. Either way, we are confident that he will continue to advance time studies; and for that we are grateful.
A torch has been passed on. We are very happy to announce that Hartmut Rosa’s successor as editor-in-chief is Michelle Bastian from the University of Edinburgh. Michelle has a PhD in philosophy from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and brings this training to the areas of critical time studies, with a special focus on time and belonging. She was instrumental in setting up the Temporal Belongings Network, which runs conferences and workshops on a wide range of themes that not only helps to connect time scholars from across the world, but also develops time studies in new and vibrant ways. Michelle brings a new personality to the journal, and brings also an intellectual, organisational and strategizing talent to the differing roles that an editor fulfils. We are very happy to have her join us, and we look forward to seeing the journal becoming even more thought-provoking, dynamic and diverse in the coming years.
As a measure of its continued success, and the growing interest in time studies, 2019 sees the journal increase from three to four issues per year. We take the opportunity of the expansion to institute two changes. First is that we hope to place a little more focus on a special section in at least one issue per year. This would be an opportunity for authors to propose particular themes, and acting as guest editor(s), work with us in seeing through to publication their own ideas; be it from a conference, or workshop, or simply through collaboration on an idea. We welcome your expressions of interest. Second is that we will group each issue, as much as is possible, into themes of interest. We will continue to publish general articles on time, of course, but we feel that even in the age of search engines and keyword searches, to have and to hold and to read a collection is a pleasure and a convenience that should not be allowed to perish just yet.
Which brings us to the present issue. There are three special sections included. The first offers part one of a series of essays on Time Perspective theory broadly conceived. This is a framework that considers the psychological and sociological dimensions of the human relationship with time. Time & Society has been a platform for Time Perspective theory over the years, but usually in the form of the stand-alone essay. We have pleasure in publishing a very interesting and diverse collection here, which focuses upon, amongst other topics, subjective well-being in adolescents, time in old-age, and the temporal links with behaviour in business organisations. Part two of this series will appear in our third issue. Our second special section places a spotlight on modes of synchrony and timeliness, and the consequences of patterns of keeping in time wider technical infrastructures such as those supporting media and energy. While our third special section advances methods for the study of time. The issue is completed with a range of essays that in their differing ways advance philosophy, theory, practice and method in time studies.