THE FACTOR OF TIME IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

Abstract

The article discusses the nature of social time, a form of existence of society, which manifests itself in successive events, and consists of social and individual perceptions. Human geography studies social characteristic of the time in historical and spatial context, and analyzes its territorial dimension. Each historical epoch has a peculiar perception of time. Time does not exist by itself; it is always associated with the phenomena and processes occurring in the surrounding world. However, time is a physical factor which has properties that allow participating actively in all natural processes, providing the causal connection of phenomena. In society the time appears in the form of activity. Thus, the time expresses also the quantitative side of being, i.e. the content of the social process. Sensation, perception and experience of time in some way are influence by natural factors, such as geographical environment. The main properties of time are duration, irreversibility, one-dimensionality, direction, speed of time and flow of time. The peculiarities of social time include heterogeneity, diversity, and temporality. Historical geography has a large importance in the study of time.