Time, alterity and social policy

Lee Gregory

Chapter 3 in Time, Welfare and Society, 2026, pp 31-47 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Chapter 3 integrates temporal theory with the concept of alterity to illuminate how dominant temporal regimes marginalise alternative ways of organising social life. It explores how non‑capitalist, indigenous, ecological and community‑based temporalities coexist with, resist or are co‑opted by market‑oriented time norms. Drawing parallels with environmental temporalities, the chapter demonstrates how policy decisions generate long‑term, path‑dependent consequences that extend beyond immediate horizons. It also introduces “mutant neoliberalism” and the contemporary polycrisis as contexts that intensify temporal fragmentation, short-termism and welfare retrenchment. The chapter positions temporality and alterity as analytical tools for imagining alternatives to productivist welfare systems. It lays the conceptual framework for revising Social Policy's core constructs by making explicit the plurality of times in which welfare is lived and governed.

Keywords: Alterity; Temporal regimes; Environmental temporality; Mutant neoliberalism; Polycrisis; Path dependency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800370807
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