Punctuality and the Everyday Ethics of Time

Abstract

A taken-for-granted aspect of everyday life is that people are usually punctual. This norm is so well established that a common sense understanding of unpunctuality as a personality defect prevails in the social science literature. Drawing on qualitative and experiential data from the Mass Observation Archive, this paper argues that punctuality is less a matter of individual virtue and more one of age, gender and work situation. It proposes that a close study of these differentiating `surface' conditions leads back to more fundamental questions of social structure and solidarity. The sentiments underlying the norm demanding unconditional punctuality correspond to, and may be a legacy of, the `mechanical solidarity' that Durkheim stressed underpinned even the most complex and advanced societies.