What's the sociological term for our acceptance of cumulative airport security demands?

November 29, 2006 8:37 PM

Is there a word or phrase that describes people's ready acceptance of increasingly odd and demanding airport security procedures?

I realized after going through security at the airport today that I had thought nothing of the goofy requirements of modern air travel. I just did them as if they were routine.

It occurred to me that there used to not be security at all, then there were metal detectors, then only ticketed passengers (meaning you had to show a ticket and ID to get to the metal detectors), then you had to take off your sport coat before going through, then you had to take your laptop out and scan it separately, then you had to take your shoes off and walk through in your socks or bare feet, then you had to put any toothpaste/lotion/deodorant in a clear plastic bag and scan that separately. The requirements never go away, they just keep adding new ones.

I have thought that each new recent requirement was a pain, but I have accepted them and do them freely and without complaint, even as security for business travel becomes a 9-step process. In 20 years, perhaps we will have a 19-step process, where we turn our shirts inside out and comb our hair and get our eyeballs scanned and speak into a microphone for voice analysis or whatever else they cook up. And we will probably just do it, all the while in our socks and with our shampoo in a clear plastic baggie.

Here's my question: is there a word or sociological phrase that describes this behavior? Something more specific than "acceptance" or "adaptation" (or "knuckling under" or "giving in to the man").

posted by AgentRocket to society & culture (40 comments total)

Resignation?
posted by chimaera at 8:40 PM on November 29, 2006

It really depends on who you ask. If you ask a leftie, it'll probably be something about "violation of my civil rights! Oh, and DRM" but if you ask a rightie, it'll be something along the lines of "doing my part to keep flying safe."

in the middle? I think it's "apathy."
posted by drstein at 8:43 PM on November 29, 2006

"Boiled frog" seems appropriate.
posted by mbrubeck at 8:52 PM on November 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

Giving up?
posted by craven_morhead at 8:55 PM on November 29, 2006

Appeasement. The whole thing is a charade meant to appear that "something is being done" so that the frightened public will keep buying airline tickets.

What I'd like is the word for how the spineless are able to dictate policy for the rest of us, regardless of actual risk.
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:56 PM on November 29, 2006

I call it security theater which I think describes all the players in the weird little tableau.
posted by jessamyn at 8:59 PM on November 29, 2006 [2 favorites]

Appeasement.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:04 PM on November 29, 2006

Aerocapitulation.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:04 PM on November 29, 2006

apathy?


Oh. Right - like drstein said.
posted by niles at 9:06 PM on November 29, 2006

But that's ok. I don't care.
posted by niles at 9:07 PM on November 29, 2006

Expedience.
posted by frogan at 9:09 PM on November 29, 2006

docile
posted by docpops at 9:11 PM on November 29, 2006

As is so often the case, German offers the perfect portmanteau: Heimatschutzministeriumsermüdung*
*DHS fatigue
posted by rob511 at 9:11 PM on November 29, 2006

Acquiesence.
posted by dhammond at 9:15 PM on November 29, 2006

Complacency
posted by klangklangston at 9:16 PM on November 29, 2006

#jessamyn: I call it security theater which I think describes all the players in the weird little tableau.

Actually security theater was coined by Bruce Schneier to describe conspicious security measures which have little real security effect (though they may make some people feel more secure). Security theater was instrumental in getting people willing to fly after 9/11.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 9:23 PM on November 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

"Rare inconvenience." It's very annoying, but most people don't travel enough for the annoyance to last past the airport visit, so there is no real groundswell of opposition.
posted by smackfu at 9:24 PM on November 29, 2006

I call it security theater which I think describes all the players in the weird little tableau.

In the same vein, a popular phrase I first noticed in various forums at Flyertalk is Kabuki Security, which I think is a great description. It suggests the theatrical unrealness of the airport ritual, a stylized rite which provides the appearance of security without underlying substance.
posted by blue mustard at 9:25 PM on November 29, 2006

AfterDinner Speech Responce Syndrome [heh]?
posted by metaswell at 9:43 PM on November 29, 2006

Ooops, sorry...

Thats r e s p o n s e ...
posted by metaswell at 9:43 PM on November 29, 2006

"Kabuki Security" is so fantastic that I might just port it over to actual theater.

Also:

If you ask a leftie, it'll probably be something about "violation of my civil rights! Oh, and DRM" but if you ask a rightie, it'll be something along the lines of "doing my part to keep flying safe."

This is such a gross oversimplification (and inaccurate) that I had to call it out at the risk of derailment. You're not seriously suggesting that while all lefties are indignant over the process and blathering on about it, all righties are willfully suffering in silence for the good of everyone else?
posted by war wrath of wraith at 9:53 PM on November 29, 2006

The second-best word is ovine.

I suggested the best word earlier, but it was modsquished. Humorless bastards. ;)
posted by rokusan at 10:00 PM on November 29, 2006

When I was a courier, I could get into pretty much any building in DC, including the Pentagon (this was in the late 1980s), by hacing a clipboard and a package. You had to sign in at most places, but you could sign whatever name you wanted ("James Bond" and "George Washington" were my favorites) and they'd just wave you in. These places all had security guards; we called them "insecurity guards" since that's all the good they did.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:00 PM on November 29, 2006

Incremental fear politics?
posted by b33j at 10:04 PM on November 29, 2006

I don't have a word for the specific behavior, but I think it's better understood if we realize that once we enter the system we become, in airport parlance, "self-transporting luggage."
posted by forallmankind at 10:16 PM on November 29, 2006

I think the term you are looking for is compliance. You might be interested in this (and this).

In fact, I insist that you accept that "compliance" is the term you are looking for. I like you, and I only want the best for you. Besides, everyone else is using that term. You want to be like your friends, don't you? And, I hate to mention this, but I do have a badge. So just flag this as the best answer and move along now, okay? Why hold up the line?
posted by Pater Aletheias at 10:53 PM on November 29, 2006 [1 favorite]

"false authority syndrome"
posted by krisjohn at 10:59 PM on November 29, 2006

We've become so used to convenient, quick long-distance travel that we essentially have no alternatives to the airline industry. Their monopoly is a kind of hostage situation, really. You give in to their demands because otherwise you don't go anywhere.
Also bear in mind that you can no longer bow out of the process once you start it. After you've entered the system of security checks, you submit to their whims or you wind up arrested. If they ask you to do something, you can't simply refuse and choose not to fly without serious repercussions.
posted by nightchrome at 11:49 PM on November 29, 2006

Inertia?
posted by keijo at 12:23 AM on November 30, 2006

I have a name for the opposite phenomenon:

Airthwart: when one travels using a more time-consuming mode of transportation simply to avoid the hassle of airport security.
posted by Lucie at 12:44 AM on November 30, 2006

Habituation.
posted by mono blanco at 1:01 AM on November 30, 2006

Resignation
posted by crewshell at 3:13 AM on November 30, 2006

"Charade" - in the sense of a game which both parties know to be ridiculous but which is played nevertheless.
posted by rongorongo at 3:19 AM on November 30, 2006

Baaaa. Baaaa.
posted by jaded at 3:49 AM on November 30, 2006

Docility?
posted by dirtdirt at 4:08 AM on November 30, 2006

Stanley Milgram calls it: 'obedience' (to authority).
posted by NekulturnY at 4:57 AM on November 30, 2006

Rokusan has it: +1 for Ovine
posted by SpacemanRed at 5:53 AM on November 30, 2006

Aerocapitulation.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium

I'm sold.
posted by cowbellemoo at 8:06 AM on November 30, 2006

Thanks everyone for your answers. It seems from the range of answers that there is no specific terms, but I marked my favorites.

For the civil-libertarians out there, I think the boiled frog metaphor is apt. If airports went from walk-to-the-gate to our modern requirements, I'd imagine there would be more resistance. But it has been sufficiently gradual that we just do each step because it's not that much worse than the last one.

My favorites were security theater(and the wikipedia entry describes the overall process nicely, but not our nonchalant acceptance of it) and kabuki security. It seems like most flyers accept that this is a little, ornate play, and are willing to learn and recite their lines in exchange for the least hassle/personal attention at security.
posted by AgentRocket at 8:40 AM on November 30, 2006 [1 favorite]

There was a very good article about the rise of Nazism which I got from MeFi but I can't seem to find it now. It was essentially an essay about how every change brought about by the Nazis was a small one and hence no German ever stood up and said "that's going too far!" -- does anyone know the piece I mean? Like one day your Jewish neighbours have to wear a little badge, that doesn't seem so terrible. Then the next thing, then the next...

But I vote for "boiled frog" as the best answer so far.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:04 PM on November 30, 2006