Barbara Adam

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

Barbara Adam
Born	(1945-03-05) 5 March 1945 (age 80)
Occupations	Lecturer, Cardiff University Professor emerita 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) Academician of the Learned Society of Wales (2013)

Barbara E. Adam, FAcSS , FLSW (born 5 March 1945) is a retired British sociologist and academic. She specialises in social theory particularly 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 is the founding editor of the academic journal Time & Society . ^[2]

Early life and education

Adam was educated in Germany before moving to the United Kingdom, where she spent her academic career at Cardiff University. ^[1] She earned both her Ph.D. and D.Sc. in sociology at Cardiff, specialising 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] Her transdisciplinary work is taught across the arts, the humanities and the social sciences. She was awarded two major ESRC Research Fellowships (1994 and 2003) as well as senior Fellowships in Potsdam, Germany and Cagliari, Italy as well as Durham and Bristol, UK. From 1999 to 2000, she held the Max Weber Chair at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. ^[4]

In 1992, Adam set up 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 (FASS) 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 work

Research monographs

• Adam, Barbara (1990). Time and Social Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press; Philadelphia: Temple, UP. ISBN 978-0745607405.
  • Japanese translation: 1997 Hosei University Press, Tokyo. ISBN 4-588-00587-1.
  • Chinese translation: 2008: Beijing Normal University Publishing Group, Beijing ISBN 978-7-303-09619-0.
• Adam, Barbara (1995). Timewatch: The Social Analysis of Time. Cambridge: Polity Press; Williston, VT: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0745610207
  • German translation. (2005) Das Diktat der Uhr, transl. Frank Jakubzik, Frankfurt, a.M.: Suhrkamp, Edition Zweite Moderne ISBN 3-518-41678-2 .
  • Italian translation. (2005) Timewatch. Per un’analise sociale del tempo, transl. Ester Dornetti, Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai. ISBN 88-8490-653-9
  • Korean translation.( 2009) ILSIN Publishing Company ISBN 978-89-7410-391-0.
• Adam, Barbara (1998). Timescapes of Modernity: The Environment and Invisible Hazards. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415162746
• Adam, Barbara (2004). Time. Cambridge, Malden, MA: Polity. Polity.  ISBN 978-0745627779.
  • Slovenian translation. (2010) Čas, Ljubljana: Maribor. ISBN 978-9616620161
  • Polish translation. (2011) Czas, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Sic!. ISBN 978-8360457900
• Adam, Barbara; Groves, Chris (2007). Future Matters: Action, Knowledge, Ethics. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004161771.
• Adam Barbara; Oliver, Seth (2026). Drawing Futures: An Alchemy of Words and Images Cardiff: Graffeg. 85728-328-7 (hb), ISBN 978-1805951537.

Edited works

• Adam, Barbara; Allan, Stuart (1995). Theorising Culture: An Interdisciplinary Critique After Postmodernism. London: UCL Press, New York: NYUP.  ISBN 85728-328-7 (hb), ISBN 85728-329-5 (pb).
• Adam, Barbara; Geissler, Karlheiz; Held, Martin (1997) Die Non-Stop Gesellschaft und ihr Preis. Stuttgart/Leipzig: Hirzel, Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft. ISBN 3-7776-0796-7(pb).
• Adam, Barbara; Allan, Stuart; Carter, Cynthia, eds. (1999). Environmental Risks and the Media. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415214469.
• Adam, Barbara; Beck, Ulrich; van Loon, Joost (2000). The Risk Society and Beyond. Critical Issues for Social Theory. London and Thousand Oaks: Sage. ISBN 0-7619-6468-1 (hb), ISBN 0-7619-6469-X (pb).
  • Chinese translation: 2005 Beijing House Publishing Group, pp. 366. ISBN 7-200-06164-6 (pb).
• Adam, Barbara; Whipp, Richard; Sabelis, Ida (2002) Making Time. Time and Management in Modern Organizations. Oxford: Oxford UP. ISBN 0-19-925369-2(hb), ISBN 0-19-925370-6 (pb).
  • Chinese translation 2010: Beijing Normal University Press, Beijing. ISBN 978-7-303-09915-3 .

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.