A Geography Of Time: Temporal Misadventures Of A Social Psychologist, Or How Every Culture Keeps Time Just A Little Bit Differently

A Geography Of Time: Temporal Misadventures Of A Social Psychologist, Or How Every Culture Keeps Time Just A Little Bit Differently by Robert V. Levine

The combination of geography and time had to be interesting. I wasn't exactly sure what it was about, but I was intrigued. 

The idea for the book stemmed in part from the author's experience in Brazil. As he was going to teach a class, every clock he looked at seemed to be set to a different time. The class was fairly empty at the start, with students gradually filtering in throughout the class time. Students were not antsy to leave and stayed to talk well after the end time. A bus driver would stop mid-route and spend 10 minutes getting a sandwich. People would rarely be present on time. Yet, people just rolled with this type of time. 

The author attempted to look at how societies managed time through a variety of measures. such as  how fast people walked and how long it took to receive service at the post office. Countries like Japan showed up near the top of the list, with strong clock synchronization and punctuality. Latin American and other developing countries showed up near the button. Show up on time to a party in Mexico, and you will likely embarrass the host.

Measures of helpfulness were somewhat tied to meaning of time, yet were different. In the US, "the slow time" south would be very helpful, while the fast time northeast would not be very helpful. However, the relaxed time California was also not helpful. He chalked this up to culture. California has the individualistic "fun, fun, fun" attitude, while the south is tied to a social structure.

The book is over a quarter century old. I wonder how some of the findings have held out? With cell phones, now everybody has a synchronized time. Has this led to a greater sense of punctuality? Or do people continue to adhere to the social standards (even without an excuse.) The authors did admit having a difficulty with some of the studies with car-centric locales. Does this distort some of the findings? Would a look at driving speeds prove interesting? There are a number of areas to explore. I also wonder what the root causation is. What leads society to have a different understanding of time?