All waiting is political. On the relationship between waiting and power

Abstract

Waiting is a basic aspect of the experience of time. Since the surrounding world cannot be manipulated at will, actors' plans and desires must adjust to unchosen durations, and this implies, among other things, having to wait. However, this basic fact has its social, and consequently, political, configuration. Because not everyone waits equally, nor does everyone wait the same way, nor does everyone have the same stake in waiting situations, nor do they have the same opportunity to stop waiting or to make others wait. From this starting point, the article is organized into three segments. First, it proposes a delimitation of the notion of waiting; second, it proposes a classification of its types; and third, and central, it seeks to clarify the relationships between waiting and power.