‘My drive is my sacred time’: commuting as routine liminality

Abstract

ABSTRACTCommuting is a twice-daily routine for many workers. As it is situated between work and home, the commute is liminal, serving as a transition between the two realms while not belonging fully to either. In this paper, I show how many workers use the generative nature of routines to make commuting into a valuable and meaningful time that allows them to have time to themselves and pursue activities they cannot otherwise do. Commuting serves an important function by providing an excusable outlet for activities – reading for pleasure, listening to the radio, or daydreaming – which may be important for upholding work and social structures but often do not have a place within them. Such activities are able to take place because of the liminality of commuting, but also go beyond liminality through their routine nature. Through routine liminality, this paper contributes to organization studies research on liminality.