Risk, Safety and Freedom of Movement: In Airplane and Ferry Passenger Stories in the Northern Baltic Sea Region
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to map and analyse how travellers at an airport and on ferries experience, interpret and define the risk, safety and freedom of movement in the northern part of the Baltic Sea region with regard to the border agencies.
Design/Methods/Approach:
This qualitative study is based on empirically gathered material such as field interviews and fieldwork observations on Stockholm’s Arlanda airport in Sweden, and a Tallink Silja Line ferry running between Stockholm and Riga in Latvia. The study’s general starting point was an ethno-methodologically inspired perspective on verbal descriptions along with an interactionist perspective which considers interactions expressed through language and gestures. Apart from this starting point, this study focused on the construction of safety as particularly relevant components of the collected empirical material.
Findings:
The study findings suggest that many passengers at the airport and on the ferries hold positive views about the idea of the freedom of movement in Europe, but are scared of threats coming from outside Europe. The travellers created and re-created the phenomenon of safety which is maintained in contrast to others, in this case the threats from outside Europe.
Originality/Value:
The passengers in this study construct safety by distinguishing against the others outside Europe but also through interaction with them. The passengers emphasise that the freedom of movement is personally beneficial because it is easier for EU citizens to travel within Europe but, at the same time, it is regarded as facilitating the entry of potential threats into the European Union.
UDC: 005.934:[627.21+656.71]
Keywords: passengers, identity control, construction of safety, field interview, construction of risk, fieldwork