PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Despite recurrent turns within the discourse of urban sociology episodic interactions are still treated as secondary relations of secondary significance. Scholars rarely attribute to them a formative potential capable of having relevant effects on urban intergroup life. At most public transport is perceived as a site of informal public schooling in the discipline of civil inattention. In contrast to classical assumptions and its ongoing repercussions this contribution demonstrates that passengers riding the local tram do not merely react passively to the context of local intergroup-relations but are also contribute to it. Under certain conditions tram riding can amplify tensions between urban groups and tear urbanites (and urban groups) away from attitudes of unconcerned indifference. Hence tram-riding may become a figurational field with its own particular formative capacity. Against this background special attention should be paid to episodic categorizations, folk ethnographies (Elijah Anderson), conflict interactions, and avoidance behavior.