George Rigakos: Nightclub. Bouncers, Risk, and the Spectacle of Consumption

Bouncers: Regulating Al Capone's Grandchildren? A Marxist entering Canada's nightlife economy.   Interview with George S. Rigakos, author of ›Nightclub. Bouncers, Risk, and the Spectacle of Consumption‹ (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2008).

George Rigakos (Credit: Ashley Fraser/Ottawa Citizen)

Bouncers: Regulating Al Capone's Grandchildren?

A Marxist entering Canada's nightlife economy

Interview with George S. Rigakos, author of
›Nightclub. Bouncers, Risk, and the Spectacle of Consumption‹
(McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2008).

Al Capone's grandchildren work in places and under conditions that might be seen as manifestations of de-industrialization under urban neoliberalism, even though the ›business‹ dates back to the 19th century. It is also about three interrelated developments shaped by processes of urban neoliberalization: First, there is a shift in economic development from what might be called industrial to the post-industrial orientation – leading to a night-time economy with plenty of profit opportunities for urban elites and their proxies. Second, there is a significant re-scaling from urban government to urban governance, involving a move away from state-run and local service provision, towards the ›city as an entrepreneur‹ solely focused upon the facilitation of economic growth. Thirdly, this goes with different kinds of commercial and (neo)communitarian forms of policing: be it (more the less) institutionalized as with rent-a-cops, be it more informal as with the police' activities such as ›grey policing‹ and ›moonlightning‹, or, in significant numbers, with the business of bouncers.
Several scholars aim to analyze these developments in words such as ›pluralization of policing‹, ›multilateralization of policing‹, or talk about a new ›culture of control‹ in which ›hybrid‹, ›nodal‹, ›para‹, ›private‹, ›third-party‹, and ›nonprofit‹ policing occurs. In a ›mixed economy of policing‹ where, among others, the British MET feels urged to claim the existence of a ›extended policing family‹, the result is a nasty mix reminiscent of pre-Fordist times when liminality and transgression were largely controlled by non-governmental conflicting and competing interests. Bouncers, part of the periphery of the neoliberal service economy (the ›gatekeepers‹ of Guy Debord's ›Society of the Spectacle‹), have become a valued mechanism. Like the police who have been described as the mere gatekeepers of the criminal justice system, bouncers deliver ›client-oriented‹ punishment and pain to maintain the pragmatic boundaries established by commercial imperatives in the pursuit of profit.

We talked to our colleague George Rigakos about some implications.

CrowdControl: Starting with some kind of number crunching, in Germany about 170.000 people are working as rent-a-cops, among them about 15.000 gumshoes, and in addition an unknown number of bouncers. What are the numbers for Canada?

George Rigakos:  As of 2004, the official numbers from Statistics Canada are 321 private security guards and investigators per 100,000 Canadians versus 209 per 100,000 for the public police.  The ratio is probably closer to over 2:1 in favour of private policing.  The provinces regulate the industry but only contract services are licensed.  As for bouncers, no one really knows what percentage of them are counted as part of the security numbers.  Things will be changing shortly as the provinces begin regulating the ‘in house’ sector including bouncers.

CrowdControl: What was your impetus for studying the policing of nightlife economy by bouncers? And, more particularly, studying as a Marxist scholar?