CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article
Front. Sociol.
Sec. Sociological Theory
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2025.1601359
This article is part of the Research TopicRecognition and Critical Social ResearchView all 3 articles
The Time of Recognition. A Time-Critical Theory of Social Misrecognition in Welfare Societies
Provisionally accepted
- University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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This paper analyzes recognition as a temporal phenomenon. It seeks to better understand how the temporality of recognition-that is, when it is demanded, received, and given, and for how long-is structured in modern societies, and what the consequences are when these temporal structures erode or collapse. To this end, the paper focuses on two social processes: poverty and the precarization of work. It argues that both are better understood through the lens of the temporal dimension of recognition-or more precisely, the temporal dimension of nonrecognition and misrecognition. This perspective reveals that poverty and precarization are temporally extended forms of non-recognition. It becomes clear that the timing of these experiences within a person's life course, their duration, and the temporal regimes established by welfare states all play a crucial role. These regimes often exclude and disadvantage those affected, reinforcing their marginalization over time.
Keywords: recognition, time, Poverty, Precarisation, life course, Temporal regime, Social critique
Received: 27 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Schweiger. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Gottfried Schweiger, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
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