Public transport as a public space: practices of avoidance and involvement in marshrutkas

The article focuses on the analysis of the social interaction of passengers in public transport in Volgograd. Empirical work based on data of participant observations made by the author in the cabins of local marshrutkas. Theoretically the work follows the interaction tradition of researches of public places. In symbolic interactionism public space is considered as a field of anonymous communications, whose hallmarks are practices of avoidance and abstraction. The results of analysis show that marshrutkas cabins are a hybrid public-private space, where practices of avoidance adjoin and combine with practices of involvement in the interactive process of the trip.