A Study in the Sociology of 'Deadlines'

Based on the Discussion of Niklas Luhmann's 'The Scarcity of Time and Urgency of Time Limits'

Abstract

To examine the significance of 'deadlines' in contemporary society, this paper explores a sociological framework for discussing 'deadlines,' by employing Niklas Luhmann’s theory of time based on his social systems theory and analyzing his work titled 'The Scarcity of Time and Urgency of Time Limits'. Luhmann's sociological theory of time suggests the distinction between 'before/after' a certain event is the most elementary framework common to various schemes for observing time in society. According to Luhmann, the significance of distinctions such as 'before/after' and 'past/future' lies in their differences from and relationships to other dimensions of meaning, such as the material and social ones. Applying this framework to the argument of 'The Scarcity of Time and the Urgency of Time Limits,' we can think of 'deadlines' as a scheme to observe time, namely, a temporal form, that distinguishes 'before/after' fixed-'deadlines.' From the perspective of such a temporal form, the relationship between the temporal, material, and social dimensions of meaning in matters with fixed deadlines appears to be a part of complicated problematics. Setting deadlines and prioritizing matters with deadlines increases the possibility of continuing communication despite differences between their contents and between people participating in them, while they have various consequential problems.