Queuing (im)mobilities: mobilizing the study of waiting in line

Abstract

ABSTRACT Waiting in line (or queuing) is a mundane and wide-spread activity across the world. As an everyday phenomenon, this behavior features taken-for-granted dimensions that are rarely reflected upon and deserve further examination as they can shed light on the organization of social interaction and urban life. In this paper, we propose a research agenda for queuing practices that connects mobilities and design research while drawing on sociological thought. In line with the “mobilities turn”, we first highlight that queuing is more than simply being immobile. Waiting in line is a complex practice that is governed or “staged from above” through formal rules, legal procedures, and administrative procedures. Simultaneously, it is “staged from below” through the complex interactional patterns of behavior in the everyday life of millions of people. Moreover, we connect the mobilities-inspired understanding of this queuing to themes and ideas within the design realm. The article demonstrates how the act of waiting in line is “afforded” by the material and spatial layout of the environment, thus positioning mundane situations of waiting and queuing as windows into the norms and ideas governing co-presence and propinquity. After thus proposing an analytical framework that focuses on the nexus between waiting bodies and material environs, we will illustrate the value and reach of this approach through three ethnographic vignettes (supermarkets, stadiums, and airports). We conclude by identifying future research avenues for a more detailed exploration of queuing (im)mobilities.