Out of Time: Uchronian and Dyschronian Devices in Social Theory

Social Theory has conceded an important place to utopias, and utopian thought, either as a device to envisage new and just worlds or to imagine dystopian counter examples. However, and despite some brave attempts by Max Weber, uchronias (the realm of the nowhere in time) never seemed to enjoy the same and widespread attention as their spatial imaginary counterparts. In this paper, based on the contributions of Tarde and Renouvier, I’ll try to signal that Sociological Theory has much to gain by paying a closer look to uchronian thought. First of all, uchronian thought paves the way to a better understanding of causality mechanisms at the macrossociological level, separating the essential traits from the ancillary elements. Secondly, the use of uchronias is particularly helpful in comparative historical analysis, introducing conditional reasoning and “as if” instruments of analysis, offering a clear cut division between universal rules and contextually valid models. Thirdly, analysis of uchronian literature and fictional arrangements modeled by imaginary times (such as SF movies and TV shows) is an important device to assess how societies evaluate current dangers and future risks. Building up dyschronian times (like the ones imagined by Tarde) reflects the way groups and individuals, criticize existing modernities, hierarchize the current social problems and think about their possible effects. Fourthly, uchronia asserts the levels of temporal continuity and discontinuity that characterize specific societies, making perceptible the creation of foes, imaginary foundations, communitarian links, and invented traditions. Finally, uchronian thought offers insights on the ways we predict, memorize, accelerate and decelerate time and how we sew the threads that link past, present and future in intelligible ways.