Meditações - em guerra com o tempo

One of the characteristics which make this connection between the size of and the pressure within the network of interdependences on the one hand, and the psychological make-up of the individual on the other particularly clear, is what we call the ‘tempo’ of our time. This tempo is in fact nothing other than a manifestation of the multitude of intertwining chains of interdependence which run through every single social function people have to perform, and of the competitive pressure permeating this densely populated network and affecting … every single act of individuals. This may show itself in the case of an official or businessman in the profusion of his [sic] appointments or meetings, and in that of the worker by the exact time and duration of his movements: in both cases the tempo is an expression of the multitude of interdependent actions, of the length and density of the chains composed by individual actions, and of the intensity of struggles that keep this whole interdependent network in motion. In both cases a function situated at a junction of so many chains of action demands an exact allocation of time: it makes people accustomed to subordinating momentary inclinations to the overriding necessities of interdependence: it trains them to eliminate all irregularities from behaviour and to achieve permanent self-control. This is why tendencies in the individual so often rebel against social time by his [sic] super-ego, and why so many people come into conflict with themselves when they wish to be punctual.

Norbert Elias