Skip navigation
Skip navigation

Interfaces of Modulation: The Shaping of a Passenger-Customer in Japanese Urban Railway Spaces

Negishi, Kaima

Description

This thesis explores the mechanism of ‘soft’ control in relation to the contemporary service-oriented economy to better understand how passengers in urban railway spaces come to not just accept control but also eventually become agents of control. This thesis critically examines the governing mechanism of passenger mobilities in the context of Japanese urban railway spaces. Building on the existing literature around security, mobilities and the body, this thesis situates urban railway spaces as...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorNegishi, Kaima
dc.date.accessioned2017-03-15T23:20:22Z
dc.identifier.otherb43715758
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/113296
dc.description.abstractThis thesis explores the mechanism of ‘soft’ control in relation to the contemporary service-oriented economy to better understand how passengers in urban railway spaces come to not just accept control but also eventually become agents of control. This thesis critically examines the governing mechanism of passenger mobilities in the context of Japanese urban railway spaces. Building on the existing literature around security, mobilities and the body, this thesis situates urban railway spaces as an important site of containment where passengers’ bodies become a vital interface to circulate a desire for security and maintain networked circuits of control. In the networked circuits of control, passengers are not just subject to control, but also become participants in security operations as they are transformed from the subordinates into the enforcers to modulate each other’s behaviours. Significantly, the contemporary mechanism of control takes a ‘soft’ approach to prompt individual passengers to become participants of the operation. While the existing literature has tended to downplay the prevalence of ‘soft’ control, this thesis argues that such softness plays a pivotal role in effectively conscripting passengers to turn themselves from a passive object into an active agent of control. In the process, passengers’ bodies become the key vector through which passengers are brought into a networked circuit of control, mediate relations with authorities and create a strong impetus to actively take part in securitization, bringing others in to participate, uphold and reinforce security operations. This thesis examines how the forceful mechanism of soft control effectively turns individuals into willing participants in supporting the system of securitization. By using descriptive methods and drawing upon auto-ethnographic accounts, focused interviews and textual analyses, this thesis demonstrates how passengers’ bodies are enrolled into a desire for orderliness in urban railway spaces such that they attempt to reinforce the securitization of orderly operation and containment of unexpected disruption. However, these developments need to be discussed in relation to the rise of the service-oriented economy as security operations are today increasingly becoming a fundamental part of service provision for urban railway operators. The vital function of services provided by urban railway operators today is not only to accommodate but also to manipulate passengers’ desires to take hold of their bodies and turn them into ‘orderly’ subjects. The thesis identifies some of the effects that the rise of the service-oriented economy has on security operations and offers an alternative reading of ‘orderliness’ in Japanese urban railway spaces where passengers have effectively become passenger-customers.
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectcontrol
dc.subjectsecurity
dc.subjectaffect
dc.subjectrailway
dc.subjectservice-oriented economy
dc.titleInterfaces of Modulation: The Shaping of a Passenger-Customer in Japanese Urban Railway Spaces
dc.typeThesis (PhD)
local.contributor.supervisorBissell, David
local.contributor.supervisorcontactdavid.bissell@anu.edu.au
dcterms.valid2017
local.description.notesThe author deposited 16/03/17
local.type.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.date.issued2016
local.contributor.affiliationResearch School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University
local.identifier.doi10.25911/5d74e702e3d53
dc.provenance6.2.2020 - Made open access after no response to emails re: extending restriction.
local.mintdoimint
CollectionsOpen Access Theses

Download

File Description SizeFormat Image
Negishi Thesis 2017.pdf2.5 MBAdobe PDFThumbnail


Items in Open Research are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Updated:  17 November 2022/ Responsible Officer:  University Librarian/ Page Contact:  Library Systems & Web Coordinator