Chrononormativity – John Austin

Chrononormativity is the result of societal expectations and institutional forces combining to form one standardized, homogenous life timeline that dictates how an individual is expected to live and regulate themselves. It is an artificial time that is so ingrained in society that it begins to be considered a natural manifestation of time. It encourages the strict portioning and scheduling of time that influences what hours we work, how long we work, when we eat, when we sleep, etc. Chrononormativity on a societal scale is referred to as chronobiopolitics, where people’s lives are expected to follow a shared timeline. This manifests itself in key life milestones that have been prescribed as necessary and linked with specific ages or times in life, such as graduating high school, getting married, and having children. Chrononormativity shares ties with the concept of time discipline and the disciplined body, as it arises as a result of self-regulation and adherence to the actions normalized by the bodies around us. There is a sense of moral and social accomplishment for those individuals who comply with chrononormativity and maximize their efficiency and productivity within societal parameters. This encourages their continued participation reinforcing the time discipline loop. Crip Time runs counter to chrononormativity, which may exclude those who do not experience time in a normative sense. Crip Time deviates from the standardization of a linear, able-bodied time and encourages advocacy for those who follow different patterns and routines in order to accommodate their disabilities. Queer Time also rebuffs chrononormativity, pushing back against the notion that everyone will or should view their life through the progression of heteronormative milestones.

References:

Freeman, Taylor. “Introduction” Beside You in Time. Duke University Press, 2019.

Samuels, Ellen and Elizabeth Freeman. “Introduction: Crip Temporalities.” Crip Temporalities, special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 120, no. 2, 2021, pp. 245-54. doi:10.1215/00382876-8915937