The Inclusionary Effects of Performing Work: A Practice-Theoretical Study of Airport Security Work

Abstract

In contrast to inclusion research that often treats work as a neutral, passive background, this study theorizes the active role of work in producing an inclusive organization. We adopt a practice-theoretical approach that examines the accomplishment of work activities through their discourses, embodiment, and material arrangements, critically analysing both their inclusionary and exclusionary effects. Through an ethnographic study of an airport security company, we found that performing work along the ends of safety and hospitality played a crucial role in the local, situated formation of a collective of employees, recognition of individual contribution, and emergence of egalitarian relationships among security agents. Building on these findings, we discuss how the enactment of work-related ends can serve as a key place for inclusion interventions, highlighting the concept of ‘horizon of intelligible actions’ as a central explanation. Furthermore, we emphasize how the interconnectedness – the nexus – of work activities as well as material arrangements are crucial in reinforcing or undermining inclusionary and exclusionary effects.