Organising mobility : a sociological investigation of the operations of an international airport

Abstract

Mobility on a global scale as a product of increased interconnectivity has been a subject of interest for writers working within various disciplines in the social sciences and beyond. Few accounts, however, examine how mobility is performed by the operations of international airports. Through data acquired in interviews conducted with the management of an international airport administration, this project adds to existing accounts of mobility with an examination of the strategies, techniques, and performances that allow an international airport to operate, and which in turn, enable transportation worldwide. To analyse an airport as an organisation, this project employs a model advocated in John Law's (1994) influential study Organizing Modernity. Law's (1994) framework focuses attention on the often hidden performances within organisations that strain towards governance, regulation, durability, and routine. Incorporating Law's (1994) framework, this project illuminates aspects of an airport's operation in four thematic chapters, 'Ordering'; 'Communication'; 'Materials'; and 'Space'. Overall, this project depicts the international airport as a complex socio-technical assemblage that requires multiple, varied, and interwoven ordering performances to operate effectively.