Time and Social Order

This chapter shows how the notion of order was related to the notion of time, especially in commercial societies, where individuals do not control social processes, and individual experiences are not a sufficient basis for reliable predictions. Although the transmission of property was a bridge between past, present and future, “blindness” to the future was a trait that could not be ignored. Individuals, as Smith noted, control only a small portion of their future, and the prudent men, given the limited horizon of their decisions, formulate plans that allow them to gradually accumulate wealth. However, although the distant future could not be planned, the rhythm of time could be governed in workshops. The reorganization of labor in society meant that the division between productive and unproductive labor ceased to be an issue relating to how individuals decide to organize their private time. In the market society, productive and unproductive labor occupy distinct social spaces, and this entails the creation of a social time. All these events had an impact on individuals’ capacity to interpret their “real” self-interest correctly. In particular, laborers and landowners showed little ability to understand how the improvement of their condition is related to the social welfare.