This article aims to demonstrate that the transition from the mainstream narrative to the interactional history of concepts promises tangible benefits for scholars of social time in general and temporal comparisons in particular. It is shown that the traditionally close alignment of narration with the production of historical consciousness at various levels hinders the study of time as a semantic variable perpetually contested, amended and upheld across society. Alternatively, the references to time made in public settings, allowing for more or less instant reactions (turn-taking) as well as expression of dissenting opinions (stance-taking), offer a much more representative palette of temporal semantics and pragmatics in a given sociopolitical environment. In a particularly intriguing case, the essentially deliberative venue where contestation is supported by both institutional arrangements and political reasons (British House of Commons) is put to test under circumstances commonly known as ‘the post-war consensus’ – the unspoken convention directing opposing political parties to suspend stance-taking regarding the past actions of the government during WWII, its immediate aftermath and its future prospects. As a reliable indicator of this arrangement, the contestation of temporal comparisons between relevant pasts and futures is tested in oppositions reflecting party allegiances (Conservatives vs. Labour vs. Liberals) and executive functions (government vs. opposition) between 1946 and 1952. It is shown that, notwithstanding the prevalence of non-contested statements aimed at preserving interactional coherence and pragmatic functionality of the setting, the moderately active contestation of the adversary’s temporal comparisons in the House of Commons at that time helped all parties, albeit to a different degree, to shape their own political and institutional roles as well as to delegitimize their respective adversaries.

本文旨在证明，从主流叙事到概念的互动历史的转变，为研究一般社会时间特别是时间比较的学者带来了切实的好处。结果表明，传统上叙事与历史意识的生产在各个层面上的紧密结合阻碍了对时间作为语义变量的研究，它在整个社会中不断受到质疑、修正和维护。或者，在公共环境中对时间的引用，允许或多或少的即时反应（轮换）以及不同意见的表达（立场），在给定的情况下提供更具代表性的时间语义和语用调色板。社会政治环境。在一个特别有趣的案例中，在通常被称为“战后共识”的情况下对竞争得到制度安排和政治原因（英国下议院）的支持的基本审议场所进行测试 - 指示对立政党暂停立场的不言而喻的公约关于政府在二战期间的过去行为、其直接后果和未来前景。作为这种安排的可靠指标，在 1946 年至 1952 年间，在反映政党忠诚度（保守党与工党与自由党）和行政职能（政府与反对党）的反对派中对相关过去和未来之间的时间比较的争论进行了测试。表明，