Social Time, Fact or Fiction? Several Considerations on the Topic

In l937 P. A. Sorokin, together with R. K. Merton, published an essay entitled Social Time: A Methodological and Functional Analysis, in the American Journal of Sociology. They noted that most social scientists share in a silent assumption about the use of the astronomical concept of evenly flowing, quantitative time, and maintained that the astronomical concept of time has a number of shortcomings when applied in the social sphere, so they tried to promote the concept of "social time" as a methodological tool, to lead to a deeper understanding of social periodicity. Since then, the concept of social time has become settled in sociology and social sciences and been the subject of various reflections. This paper examines the problems associated with its use.