We often think of time as neutral. A waiting list is just a list; a deadline is just a standard; business hours are just a convention. But in my research as a Doctor of Public Administration student, I’ve come to a different conclusion: Administrative time is rarely neutral—it is often a weapon.
I recently read Judith Dangerfield’s profound analysis of the 14th Amendment, 'The Fourteenth Amendment: Our Constitutional Promise Against Caste.' She argues that the Constitution imposes an affirmative duty on the government to dismantle systems that rank people as superior or inferior.
This framework immediately struck a chord with my current research on a concept I call administrative chrononormativity.
What is administrative chrononormativity? Sociologist Elizabeth Freeman describes chrononormativity as the way society uses time to organize bodies for maximum productivity. There is a correct timeline we are all expected to follow: School. Marriage. Mortgage. Kids. Retirement.
Administrative Chrononormativity occurs when the government embeds that timeline into the state's architecture. It assumes every citizen lives a linear life.
It assumes you have a stable address to receive mail within 10 days.
It assumes you have a "standard" family structure to qualify for benefits.
It assumes your medical needs fit into a fiscal year.
The Temporal Caste System—When you fit the normative timeline, the system works. But for queer bodies, foster youth, and those in poverty, life is rarely linear. It is often interrupted, circular, or delayed.
Example: A trans individual facing wait times for care that hinge on living as a gender for a set period, ignoring the reality of their lived experience.
Example: A former foster youth attempting to access aid but missing an age cutoff because their path to independence took longer than the state's "standard" allowed.
If Dangerfield’s "Anti-Caste Principle" holds true, then these administrative timelines are unconstitutional. They rank the linear, normative life as "primary" and the complex, non-normative life as secondary.
The Duty to Disrupt— As public administrators, we cannot hide behind the excuse of standard procedure. If the procedure enforces a caste system based on time, the 14th Amendment demands we dismantle it. We don't just need to open the doors; we need to change the clocks.
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| Figure 1: Administrative Chrononormativity in Action. Top: A linear life path that aligns with government expectations passes through administrative checkpoints easily. Bottom: A non-normative life path (common in queer and marginalized communities) clashes with rigid timelines. Under the Dangerfield (2025) framework, this "Time Wall" creates a constitutional caste system by treating the bottom group as inferior. |