Doing enforcement:: Some descriptions of the work-practices of the Parking Attendant

Abstract

For many of us, finding somewhere to park in a busy city centre can be a frustrating everyday experience. Yet, despite on-street parking being a relatively well theorised and modelled topic, little empirical attention has been given to those who manage such a valued in-demand resource. The modern ‘Parking Attendant’ is tasked with keeping roads clear and ensuring a regular supply of parking-spaces (which are fundamental concerns of traffic management). Following fieldwork undertaken in Glasgow, Scotland during May 2011 and by taking an ethnomethodologically informed ethnographic approach; this project respecifies the topic of ‘parking’ and provides a collection of descriptions of doing enforcement as situated, practical accomplishments of the Parking Attendant’s work-practices. It is suggested that enforcement practices are much more complex than simple regulation of parking meter behaviour and are embedded in a rich social interactional (parking) order of the street.