Welcome to the airport
What made the school, the hospital, the prison and the factory so potent subjects of study for Foucault was the everyday exposure that people had to them. They were not exceptional places, as one could consider today Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo,and were therefore able to propagate and become models of social control at a massive scale. Only looking at spaces of such ubiquity would lead us to a critique that illuminates the way in which social control is maintained today - along with the values the elites attempt to propagate.
One of the clearest such spaces, that is modeled in the purest way after the values of the elites, yet we are familiar with its ways, is the airport. Sure it has a material/functional nature: to act as a landing, take-off and boarding zone. But a whole network of other unrelated social relations has also been built around it. Its planned nature has made it a fertile ground for experimenting about ‘contemporary models of community’.
The new social control is before all, more of the same: Security requires CCTV, even in countries that do not deploy such technology in the street. Identification is required, planned and random searches can be expected. Recording is of course prohibited! Less obviously it is a deeply private space: there is no public space in it, no commons, no corner where anyone has the ‘right’ to be in. Each spot you might sit is owned, and exploited by the usual corporate suspects — there is no small business in the airport; it is all multinational. Instead of a town developing around it, like ports in the past, outside it there is a human desert, inside it only franchises.
Given all this its rather unremarkable feature is the lack of any sort of community. Thousands of people go through it every day, and most of them will, by design, never speak to each other — yet they are crammed into queues, waiting halls and plane seats much closer than in many other environments. Why? Do you ever need anyone else in the airport? No - you can go through it without actually talking to anyone, show tickets, show passport, remove coat and shoes, give pass, board, … you are part of a process not life. And you are fully consenting! The need to ask for your way, or help by a bystander would be seen as a sign of disorganization.
Finally, and to some extent because of the above, the airport is a space where social inequalities are celebrated. Under the guise of social efficiency people are sorted into first, second, economy class. Those that can afford it can skip security and hassle, others recognize that it is after all meant for them: plutocracy rules and it is not ashamed of it! So lets stop having nightmares about nuclear holocausts, concentration camps, coal mines. We have to just close our eyes and picture the whole world run on the principles of an airport.
3 comments
Leave a comment
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
How would you run airports better then, T-Unit? Personally, I think departure lounges should have comfier seats.
Comment by Marty @ 3/9/2005 9:53 am
Ecstatic as I obviously am to be referred to as ‘T-Unit’, this post was actually by exciting new contributor Manos.
A great post, Manos! I think you’ve hit on something important and I’ll expand in a separate post.
Comment by Tim @ 3/9/2005 8:43 pm
Sorry M-phatic, didn’t want to steal your thunder. So, airports then? How do we make them better?
Comment by Marty @ 3/10/2005 9:51 am