Abstract
How is competition to be understood as a time-bound activity? While the comparison of task completion success is a central feature of competition, time is routinely used as a principle through which contests are organized, either as a direct measure of success or as a constraining resource that insures the contest is fair. In competitions various models of temporal organization (and sequential turn-taking) organize strategy and produce constraints that lead to the evaluation of success. I present an ethnography of competitive chess to demonstrate the centrality and consequences of temporality in contests in which time is used as a resource. Time shapes chess on the macro-level (for organizing events), the meso-level (as interpersonal engagement), and the micro-level (as psychic pressure). Put together, activities create a temporal tapestry. Treating time as a resource in competitive activity emphasizes that rules depend on temporal strategies to create equitable outcomes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 395-416 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Time & Society |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2012 |
Keywords
- Chess
- competition
- games
- resources
- temporal capital
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science