How is time distributed under capitalism? What political, economic, and infrastructural conditions shape our use of time? And what does this mean for the analysis of social inequalities and political participation? Inspired by those key questions the workshop “Zeitpolitik – Zeit für Politik” is held at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, on June 18-19, 2026.
The workshop is organized by the team of our subproject in sociology, Lina Schöne, Stefanie Graefe and Silke van Dyk, with an overall thematic focus on voluntariness as a relational phenomenon within the matrix of social inequalities.
Everybody interested is cordially invited to attend the event. To take part in the workshop Friday, please register with Lina Schöne via email to lina.sofie.schoene[a]uni-jena.de. For the public lecture on Thursday evening no registration is necessary. The workshop on Friday will be held in English, the public lecture will be in German.
More on the Topic: Time Politics. Time for Politics
Temporal inequality is increasing as temporal regimes have changed dramatically in recent decades, affecting people’s health, the organization of everyday life, and reinforcing social inequalities. However, temporal inequality has received rather limited attention in academic debates. The workshop “Zeitpolitik. Zeit für Politik” (Time Politics. Time for Politics) brings together transdisciplinary perspectives on the relationship between temporality and social inequality that have been addressed by critical scholarship in recent years.
These perspectives include how contemporary welfare states fail to create forms of time politics that enable genuine temporal sovereignty, and how capitalist temporalities and institutionalized time structures affect care practices and democratic processes. Moreover, the ability to negotiate shorter working hours is distributed unequally and depends, for example, on collective agreements and opportunities for workplace participation. With regard to care work, the temporality of social infrastructures can both support and constrain the temporal autonomy of caregivers. On the individual and household level, this raises questions about which kinds of work are considered necessary and for whom.
In addition, new methodological approaches are needed to better capture multidimensional deprivation, including both income and time poverty. Temporal inequality also affects political participation as an inherent democratic practice linked to self-efficacy and the exercise of power. Current debates on liberal democracies under pressure and the global rise of authoritarianisms further underline the importance of political engagement. Against this background, the workshop aims both to synthesize current research on temporal inequality and to explore still underexamined dimensions of how temporal structures shape, enable, and constrain voluntary political engagement and democratic participation.
Program:
June 18, 2026 · 6:00 – 8:00 pm · Public Lecture & Discussion · (in German)
Auditorium Zur Rosen · Johannisstr. 3, Jena · Lectures by:
- KARIN JURCYK (München): Das Recht auf Zeit. Von Zeitarmut zu Zeitsouveränität
- FRIEDERIKE BEIER (Berlin): Time To Care: Chronofeministische Politik für mehr Demokratie, Gleichstellung und Zeitgerechtigkeit
June 19, 2026 · 9:00 am – 4:00 pm · Workshop (with registration; in English)
Raum 23S04 · JenTower, 23. Etage · Leutragraben 1, Jena · Contributions by:
- LINA SCHÖNE (Jena): Time for Politics: Self-Obligation, Voluntariness and Engagement in Contested Democracies
- NICOLE MAYER-AHUJA (Göttingen): Time as a Measure of Freedom? Wage Labor in Class Society between Production, Reproduction, and Politics
- CORINNA DENGLER (Wien): Caring Democracy? Spatio-Temporal Infrastructures for Volunteering and Political Participation
- ODILE MACKETT (Johannesburg): Feminist Political Economy and the Social Organisation of Work
- FRANZISKA DORN (Duisburg-Essen): Time and Income Poverty beyond the Mean
