Redefining equality and social justice: Making the temporal explicit

Lee Gregory

Chapter 5 in Time, Welfare and Society, 2026, pp 67-99 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Chapter 5 argues that equality and social justice must incorporate temporal justice. It shows how inequalities are produced and maintained through power over time – via gendered care burdens, racialised waiting, queer disruptions of chrononormativity and the erosion of time sovereignty under neoliberalism. Drawing on Fraser's redistribution–recognition framework, the chapter demonstrates how temporal misrecognition devalues non‑employment time and excludes marginalised groups from dominant life‑course expectations. It critiques work–life balance policies for reinforcing productivist norms and proposes that equality requires recognising diverse temporalities and redistributing both time and autonomy over its use. Through this lens, freedom becomes inseparable from discretionary time, while justice involves dismantling normative temporal hierarchies. The chapter positions temporality as central to contemporary struggles over wellbeing, identity and belonging.

Keywords: Temporal justice; Time sovereignty; Gendered time; Racial time; Queer temporality; Recognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800370807
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