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

A GEOGRAPHY OF TIME The Temporal Misadventures of a Social Psychologist, or How Every Culture Keeps Time Just a Little Bit Differently Robert Levine A Oneworld Book Published by Oneworld Publications 2006 First published in the United States of America by Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group Copyright © Robert Levine 1997, 2006 All rights reserved Copyright under the Berne Convention A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978-1-85168-465-6 ISBN-10: 1-85168-465-4 Cover design by Mungo Designs Printed and bound by WS Bookwell, Finland Oneworld Publications 185 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7AR England www.oneworld-publications.com GeoTime.FM 12/7/05 11:57 AM Page vii CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Preface: Time Talks, With an Accent xi PA R T I Social Time: The Heartbeat of Culture 1 Tempo: The Speed of Life 3 2 Duration: The Psychological Clock 26 3 A Brief History of Clock Time 51 4 Living on Event Time 81 5 Time and Power: The Rules of the Waiting Game 101 PA R T I I Fast, Slow, and the Quality of Life 6 Where Is Life Fastest? 129 7 Health, Wealth, Happiness, and Charity 153 8 Japan’s Contradiction 169 vii GeoTime.FM 12/7/05 11:57 AM Page viii PA R T I I I Changing Pace 9 Time Literacy: Learning the Silent Language 10 Minding Your Time, Timing Your Mind 187 207 Notes 225 Index 247 viii CONTENTS GeoTime.FM 12/7/05 11:57 AM Page ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have been surrounded by so many helpful and knowledgeable students, colleagues, and friends that it is difficult to know where my ideas begin and where theirs leave off. Let me single out a few of these people for special thanks. I am indebted to the following for generously providing insights and stories used in this book: Neil Altman, Stephen Buggie, Kris Eyssell, Alex Gonzalez, Eric Hickey, James Jones, the late William Kir-Stimon, Shirley Kirsten, Todd Martinez, Kuni Miyake, Salvatore Niyonzima, Harry Reis, Suguru Sato, Jean Traore, Fred Turk, and Jyoti Verma. Here at my university, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Jean Ritter, Aroldo Rodrigues, and Lynnette Zelezny have been indispensable sources of information and support. Among many other helpful colleagues, I would like to thank Rick Block, Richard Brislin (whose teachings were the inspiration for chapter 9), Edward Diener and Harry Triandis for their teachings about the subjects of time and/or culture, and their willingness to respond to my many requests for data and information. I cannot say enough about the constant support of Phil Zimbardo—he is not only social psychology’s most inspiring teacher, but perhaps its greatest mensch. I thank Suguru Sato and Yoshio Sugiyama at Sapporo Medical University, Lars Nystedt and Anna and Hannes Eisler at Stockholm University, and ix GeoTime.FM 12/7/05 11:57 AM Page x the administration at Universidade Federal Fluminense in Brazil for making my residencies at their universities such successful experiences; these adventures are at the heart of this book. I thank Ellen Wolff who began me on this project many years ago. My wife, Trudi Thom, consulted on many aspects of this project, and has always been there when I needed her. Alex Gonzalez, my colleague, boss, and fellow time traveler, has been a font of guidance and support during many incarnations of my research program. My colleague Connie Jones, who has read every word of this manuscript, has been an invaluable surrogate editor