Mobilities Studies: Goffman on the move

This chapter invites the reader into a particular field of study wherein Goffman’s thinking and research (Goffman 1959, 1963, 1972, 1983) has been very influential. Under the label of the ʼnew mobilities turn’ (Cresswell 2006; Jensen 2015; Jensen et al 2019; Urry 2000), a specific engagement with Goffman’s work has enriched the studies of everyday life mobilities in general (Jensen 2006, 2010a, 2010b, 2013) and architecture and urban design in particular (Jensen 2014, 2017; Jensen and Lanng 2017). The latter field of focus is now articulated as ‘mobilities design’ and concerns the ways in which engineering, technology, architecture and urban design ‘stage’ and frame the conditions of various mobility patterns in everyday life (Jensen et al. 2014). The key insight from the mobilities turn perspective is that mobility is ‘more than A to B’ movement. The ‘instrumental movements’ in everyday life are studied (e.g. as commuting, movement in public spaces, mass transit). However, the ‘more than’ effects of physical movement, digital communication, commodity exchanges and migration patterns are the ways in which all this movement affects personal identities, social communities and understandings of the built environment. The new mobilities turn asks how mobility changes the way we see ourselves, our social others and the physical world. This agenda connects very well to the research agenda of Erving Goffman. The chapter is structured in the following manner. After a general introduction to the theme and aim of the chapter, we explore a more detailed explanation of how Goffman’s work inspired the study of everyday mobility in the situational framework known as ‘staging mobilities’ (Jensen 2013). First, the theoretical work on developing new and very explicit Goffman-inspired concepts and vocabularies is explained. These are then set in relation to the articulation of the field of ‘mobilities design’ as an even more specialized case of Goffman-inspired mobility studies. The chapter illustrates how some of many the terms and concepts developed in the situational theory of mobilities can be applied. Some specific terms that the chapter will introduce include mobile withs, temporary congregations, networked selves and negotiation-in-motion. These are all concepts developed as part of articulating the ‘staging mobilities’ framework (Jensen 2013). The chapter then presents different empirical cases based on the author’s research into everyday life mobility. These cover themes such as movement and interaction in public space, riding metros and subways, and airport passenger experiences. All fields are explored utilizing the Goffman-inspired theoretical scaffolding of ‘staging mobilities’. The chapter ends with some short concluding remarks as well as a few pointers ahead to future Goffman-inspired mobility studies.