The Social Construction of Friday

In a wonderful example of the social construction of time, there was no Friday, December 30th, 2011 in Samoa (NPR).

The country decided to move from one side of the International Dateline to the other. The move, accomplished by skipping forward 24 hours, will allow it to align its week with its largest trading partners: Australia, New Zealand, China and Tonga. Many business leaders were thrilled at the switch.

Thanks to sociologist Dan Hirschman for the tip! Also in the social construction of time: Social Construction, Deviance, and Daylight Savings.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Comments 1

Elena — March 12, 2012

Also: thanks to the switch from Julian to Gregorian calendars, William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died on 23 April 1616, ten days apart (in the Gregorian calendar, Shakespeare died on May 3 1616), and the anniversary of the October Revolution on 25 October used to be celebrated on 7 November.