Barbara Adam

For other people with similar names, see Barbara Adams (disambiguation).

Barbara Adam
Born	(1945-05-03) 3 May 1945 (age 80)
Occupation(s)	Lecturer, Cardiff University Professor of Sociology, Cardiff University Founding editor, Time & Society
Awards	Philip Abrams Memorial Prize, British Sociological Association 1991 J T Fraser Prize, International Society 1995
Honours	Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (2009)

Barbara E. Adam, FAcSS , FLSW (born 3 May 1945) is a retired British sociologist and academic. She specialises in social theory particularity in reference to time. From 1988 to her retirement in 2011, she lectured at Cardiff University; she was appointed Professor of Sociology in 1999. ^{[1] [2]} She was the founding editor of the academic journal Time & Society . ^[2]

Early life and education

Adam received a Lyceum education in Germany before relocating to the United Kingdom, where she developed her entire academic career at Cardiff University. ^[1] She earned both her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in sociology at Cardiff, specializing in time studies.

Academic career

Adam joined the faculty of Cardiff University, where she advanced an innovative temporal approach to social theory, epistemology, and methodology. ^[3] She was awarded two major ESRC Fellowships (1994 and 2003). From 1999 to 2000, she held the prestigious Max Weber Chair at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. ^[4]

In 1992, Adam founded the international journal Time & Society , providing an institutional platform for the emerging interdisciplinary field focused on social time. ^[5]

Honours

In 1991, she was awarded the Philip Abrams Memorial Prize by the British Sociological Association for her monograph Time and Social Theory. ^[6] In 1995, she was awarded the J T Fraser Prize by the International Society for the Study of Time for her monograph Timewatch: The Social Analysis of Time. ^[1] In 2009, she was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS); ^[1] in 2014, Academicians were retitled Fellows (FAcSS) to bring the Academy of Social Sciences inline with other British learned societies. ^[7]

In 2013, she was elected as a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. ^[8]

Selected works

• Adam, Barbara (1990). Time and social theory. Oxford: Polity. ISBN   978-0745607405.
• Adam, Barbara (1995). Timewatch: The Social Analysis of Time. Cambridge: Polity Press. ISBN   978-0745610207.
• Adam, Barbara (1998). Timescapes of Modernity: The Environment and Invisible Hazards. London: Routledge. ISBN   978-0415162746.
• Allan, Stuart; Adam, Barbara; Carter, Cynthia, eds. (1999). Environmental Risks and the Media. London: Routledge. ISBN   978-0415214469.
• Adam, Barbara (2004). Time. Cambridge: Polity. ISBN   978-0745627779.
• Adam, Barbara; Groves, Chris (2007). Future Matters: Action, Knowledge, Ethics. Leiden: Brill. ISBN   978-9004161771.

References

1. "Professor Barbara Adam". Cardiff University. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
2. "Professor Barbara Adam". Institute of Advanced Study. Durham University. 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
3. "Opaque Futures: Challenge for Social Sciences". Universitetet i Bergen (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2 December 2025.
4. "Professor Barbara Adam | IAS Durham" . Retrieved 2 December 2025.
5. Adam, Barbara (1 February 2022). "Thirty years of Time & Society: The challenges for time studies revisited". Time & Society. 31 (1): 6–9. doi:10.1177/0961463X211073004. ISSN   0961-463X.
6. "BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize". The British Sociological Association. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
7. "Fellows". Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
8. Wales, The Learned Society of. "Barbara Adam". The Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 22 August 2023.