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The Hidden Politics of Time: How Clocks, Calendars — and Now-Contentious Time Zones — Came to Be
From daylight saving time to China’s single time zone, governments and railroads have used clocks to shape daily life and national control.
- The House of Representatives last month passed legislation to make Daylight Saving permanent year-round, though Senate prospects for passage remain low.
- In 1883, The American Railway Association standardized time zones across America, replacing more than 40 city-based systems to prevent business disruptions as trains traveled between regions.
- To foster national unity, the Communist Party instituted a single time zone for China in 1949; the country runs officially on Beijing time, though residents adjust local schedules daily.
- Selected in 1884, the Prime Meridian runs through Greenwich, England, and was established when the British Empire held global dominance, reflecting political rather than geographic choice.
- Boston University professor Elizabeth Cohen notes that "every measurement of time is arbitrary," arguing time functions as a tool societies use to manage dissent, protest, and social control.
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35 Articles
35 Articles
From daylight saving to calendars, here’s how our ways of measuring time came to be
It flies. It heals all wounds. It can be of the essence, and it can be money. We thrill in the best of it, lament the worst. We’re warned not to waste it, since we can’t turn it back — even as we try to make up for when it’s lost.And probably more than anything when it comes to time, most of us try to manage it — in our everyday lives and on a global scale, from the biology of our circadian rhythms to what constitutes a work day. Clocks. Calenda…
·New York, United States
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Associated Press News+9 Reposted by 9 other sources
The hidden politics of time: How clocks, calendars and time zones came to be
Time is a concept that varies across cultures and history. While we often think of it as universal, timekeeping has been shaped by politics, religion, and economics.
·New York, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources35
Leaning Left18Leaning Right1Center14Last UpdatedBias Distribution55% Left
Bias Distribution
- 55% of the sources lean Left
55% Left
L 55%
C 42%
Factuality
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