A Brief Historyhistory of Knowledge of Temporality

The word temporality has a variety of meanings, ranging from our temporary state as mortals to time-based aspects of data. In linguistics temporality is used to describe sequences of events or in philosophy to try to explain our place in the world. For the purposes of this book, the words temporality and time are used interchangeably to refer to our understanding of time in whatever form. In order to appreciate the importance of time to customers, a foundation providing an overview of the evolution of our collective articulation of “time” is required. This chapter begins this book by providing an overview of academic knowledge of time. The conceptualisation and philosophical foundations of temporality are outlined. Discussion continues with evaluation of three recurrent themes evident throughout the development of articulation of temporality: technology, society and power. Throughout historyhistory, increasing technological capability has been a recurrent influence on perceptions of temporality and how time could be used for maximum efficiency and yield from individual units of time. Subsequently, society has played an important role in perceptions of temporality influencing how time “should” be used. Of course, in an increasingly connected global world, cross-culturalcross-cultural differences in the interpretation and meaning of time are highly relevant, and particularly so within an experiential or service-related context, where the subjectivity of time comes to the fore. This chapter concludes by consider the perhaps inevitable consequence of determining who has power to control time in society emerges as an area for debate and interest.