Distanciation

In his grand summation of structuration theory, The Constitution of Society, Anthony Giddens defines time-space distanciation as "(t)he stretching of social systems across time-space, on the basis of mechanisms of social and system integration" (1984: 377). System integration here can be seen as the ways in which the various "parts" of the social system are combined and coordinated. These parts can be anything from the spatially dispersed but coordinated units of a multinational company such as McDonald's or Starbucks, to the ways in which the global financial system or the international configuration of military power is coordinated. The emphasis on distanciation draws attention to the ways in which the coordination of these parts typically takes place at a distance rather than in situations of co-presence.