Boróka Bó

I focus on time — and the ways in which it is shaped by social network, neighborhood, and sociodemographic characteristics — in order to delineate  some of the mechanisms linking sociotemporal disparities and inequalities in well-being. By conceptualizing time as a fluid, network-based, relational process, I show how time scarcity is experienced, negotiated, and internalized through everyday interaction.

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I ask:

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• What happens when we run out of time? 

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• What are the consequences of time scarcity for well-being?

 

One area of my research explores how socioeconomic, cultural, and demographic characteristics affect the resource of time. Here, I trace how time scarcity emerges, along with how individuals navigate and make sense of the experience. I show that the well-being repercussions of time scarcity depend not only on individual actions, but also on differing neighborhood and institutional environments. A portion of this work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology (IF:4.69), SSM - Population Health (IF: 4.09), Population, Space & Place (IF: 3.81), and in Time & Society (IF:1.99). 

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A second area of my research examines the reciprocal relationship between the social experience of time and our individual and collective emotions. My in-progress book unpacks how not having enough time matters for the well-being of both the rich and the poor. I show – from the perspectives of my participants – that the socioemotional experience of time scarcity has distinct class-based consequences.  

 

The third area of my research situates the temporal perspectives, experiences, and decision-making processes of communities navigating environmental hazards in space and time. I am currently leading a collaborative research project studying how communities understand and cope with being out of time. This work builds on a successful 2022 UK Research and Innovation Impact grant, allowing me to form robust collaborations with local elected and community leaders, climate activists, artists, and oyster farmers.

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My work contributes to sociological theory by uncovering some of the mechanisms linking sociotemporal disparities to inequalities in well-being. My goal is to connect the individual-level subjective experience and social patterning of time with sociodemographic, institutional, and neighborhood-level factors, extending the literature on stratification and social inequality. I do this by incorporating a mixed methods approach. I combine multiple qualitative methods (ethnography, in-depth and life story interviews) with demographic methods (surveys and statistical estimation techniques). Methodologically, by situating the resource of time in lived experience, my research informs the existing literature on measuring time scarcity and time poverty.

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I have also conducted work on: time as a resource in public schools in the United States, ethnic segregation and time availability, gender inequality and the pace of life around the world, conceptualizing socioeconomic rights in South Africa, and exploring the trajectories of 'aged-out' foster youth in the United States.