time-space edges

time-space edges

the ‘connections, whether conflictual or symbiotic’, that ‘exist between societies of different structural types’, both in space and across time (GIDDENS, 1984). All societies are both social systems and at the same time in part constituted by their intersection with other social systems, both other SOCIETIES and INTERSOCIETAL SYSTEMS. The significance of the notion of time-space edges in Giddens work is that not only the spatial location but also the temporal location in particular societies is seen as profoundly affecting the outcomes of action in these societies. See also WORLD-TIME, EPISODE, EPISODIC CHARACTERIZATION.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000