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Claudia Maria López, Review of Sociology of Waiting: How Americans Wait, Social Forces, Volume 100, Issue 4, June 2022, Page e24, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soac007
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US modern life has increased not only how busy we are, but also how much time we wait in our daily life. From waiting in traffic, at the Starbucks drive-thru, or for an Amazon package, waiting is a universal experience that shapes place and socializes us to cultural norms and processes that are centered on waiting. Building on the extensive literature on waiting, Price’s book “Sociology of Waiting: How Americans Wait,” highlights the ways that people in the United States wait and how people try to capitalize off waiting. According to the author, the sociology of waiting is “The study of how individuals wait” (p. 2) and they use this framework to demonstrate how so much of societies are founded on the state of waiting. Using detailed examples of how people wait, gathered through extensive ethnographic participant observation in wait-places, like in line at groceries stories or waiting rooms at immigration agencies, Price’s book focuses on how people wait for decisions, and how norms are shaped during the waiting process. Referred to as Wait-socialization, we learn social norms as we learn to wait, like waiting our turn in line. This demonstrates that waiting is a social process that is built on a spoken or unspoken collaboration with others in society.
