International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Volume 35, Issue 3/4, April 2015.
Purpose This work highlights both the contribution and the present need to reconfigure the literature on ‘queue culture’ as a precursor of the sociology of waiting. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a legal-structural lens in comparing the initial conceptual treatment of the archetypal “waiting line” with the “line” modifying sociology of waiting that results in waiting rooms, number and telephone queues and in the experience of online waiting. Findings The initial conception of the culture of the queue understates the importance of three factors: first, the role of third parties in the design , management and inculcation of rules binding those experiencing thick time; second the degree to which communication technology and its attachment to the “mobilities” paradigm has thinned the experience of thick time and lastly the degree to which the increasing commodification of the wait has resulted in the creation of waiting time as a form of pay as you go flexitime. Originality/value The self-policing “fairness” of the waiting line is now open to scrutiny given the proliferation of the newly shaped distributional logics imbedded in the management, design and use of waiting spaces.
Purpose This work highlights both the contribution and the present need to reconfigure the literature on ‘queue culture’ as a precursor of the sociology of waiting. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a legal-structural lens in comparing the initial conceptual treatment of the archetypal “waiting line” with the “line” modifying sociology of waiting that results in waiting rooms, number and telephone queues and in the experience of online waiting. Findings The initial conception of the culture of the queue understates the importance of three factors: first, the role of third parties in the design , management and inculcation of rules binding those experiencing thick time; second the degree to which communication technology and its attachment to the “mobilities” paradigm has thinned the experience of thick time and lastly the degree to which the increasing commodification of the wait has resulted in the creation of waiting time as a form of pay as you go flexitime. Originality/value The self-policing “fairness” of the waiting line is now open to scrutiny given the proliferation of the newly shaped distributional logics imbedded in the management, design and use of waiting spaces.