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Socio-Material Practices in Irritating Situations

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Materiality of Cooperation

Part of the book series: Medien der Kooperation – Media of Cooperation ((MEKOO))

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Abstract

Ethnographic enquiries have been called to make things strange in their own culture. Co-authoring a research program dedicated to systematically making our modern and hihgly differentiated knowledge societies seem exotic (Amann and Hirschauer 1997), Stefan Hirschauer has also developed on its institutional implications: Enaging in the work of estrangement (“Befremdung”) is intended to counter a mistaken (yet powerful) division of labour within the discipline of sociology (Hirschauer 2008). The present contribution offers a reading of an empirico-theoretical meditation on a lift ride by the same author (Hirschauer 2005). Following the program’s ambition, it neither limits itself to discussing theoretical implications nor to drawing on its empirical findings. Rather, it extends on Hirschauer’s elevator cabin as a “model case”: While its take on moments of alteration pointedly decentres from a modernist assumption of “rational choice”, the resulting irritation nonetheless requires further specification in terms of situated cooperation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In a reflection on my first experiment with ethnographic research at home, I also used the category of ‘imposition’ (Zumutung) (Potthast, 2017d, pp. 85–95).

  2. 2.

    To use a proper name pars pro toto for a wider research network remains a questionable strategy, even if an exception seems justified to me for the reasons given above. It should therefore be stressed that it is far from Hirschauer’s intention to isolate himself in this way. A recent publication, for example, shows that his plea for ‘intersituativity’ (with borrowings from Bruno Latour and Karin Knorr Cetina, among others) is a tradition-conscious argument (Hirschauer, 2014). In the case of another recent publication outlining ‘quality criteria for qualitative social research’ (Strübing et al., 2018), he has served as a co-author.

  3. 3.

    On lifts, see Bernard (2014 [2006]) and Paumgarten (2008); on queues, which, according to the authorities, were ‘uncivilised’ and therefore botched the launch of the new public transport system of Santiago (Chile), see Ureta (2013).

  4. 4.

    According to one of the key players, a view from nowhere, which has revolutionised urban planning, has become available with airplanes (Corbusier, 1995 [1924], pp. 81–100; cf. Roseau, 2012). Only a view from above can refrain from local décor and bring a universal appeal to architectural design. Airports, designed with an acclaimed emphasis on nakedness, have been termed ‘the most revolutionary’ of these structures (Gordon, 2004). This is reflected in accounts by those working on the return of ethnography at airports—and who, no longer embedded in local traditions, describe themselves as lonely, vulnerable, if not naked and homeless.

  5. 5.

    Interview with a senior member of the planning department of ADP (Aéroports de Paris), 7 April 1998.

  6. 6.

    Two of the last three incidents at German airports that attracted greater media attention were due to ‘security breaches’. If even one person reaches airside areas in an uncontrolled manner, all those who are there must return, be separated again and checked. Under such circumstances, tightly scheduled flight plans cannot be maintained. At Munich Airport, 330 flights had to be cancelled on 28 July 2018; at Frankfurt Airport, eighty flights had to be cancelled on 7 August 2018. At Hamburg airport, all flights were cancelled on 3 June 2018 due to a ‘power outage’.

  7. 7.

    On the contrary, its development can, still, be followed (Guggenheim & Potthast, 2012; Pettenkofer, 2016, p. 420 ff.; Potthast, 2017c).

  8. 8.

    The same applies to ethnographic research on ‘Pissed off [drivers] in L.A.’ (Katz, 1999), on Doormen (Bearman, 2005) and on the Anatomy of Zurich-Kloten [Airport] (Güttler et al., 2018), among others, as this list cannot be exhaustive. The Siegen Seminar mentioned above resulted in a reader on queueing, with contributions from Lars Plato, Jan Wahlbrink, Mona Luisa Jüngst, Jennifer Uher, Laura Maria Albrecht, Svenja Höfler, Esther Freia Heike Roth, Tobias Brecht, Tamara Bernhardt, and Fabian Spahr.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany

    Jörg Potthast

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  1. Jörg Potthast
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Correspondence to Jörg Potthast .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fakultät I: Medienwissenschaftliches Seminar, Universität Siegen, Siegen, Germany

    Sebastian Gießmann

  2. Zentrum Bildung und Digitaler Wandel, PH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Tobias Röhl

  3. Fakultät Sozialwissenschaften, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

    Ronja Trischler

  4. Philosophische Fakultät: Institut für Ethnologie, Universität zu Köln, Köln, Germany

    Martin Zillinger

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Potthast, J. (2023). Socio-Material Practices in Irritating Situations. In: Gießmann, S., Röhl, T., Trischler, R., Zillinger, M. (eds) Materiality of Cooperation. Medien der Kooperation – Media of Cooperation. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-39468-4_13

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