"A World of Strangers"

Paper Summary:

This is a critical report of Lyn Lofland's "A World of Strangers: Order and Action in Urban Public Space,"an interesting study of urban neighborhoods, and what makes them the way they are today. The paper shows how Lofland contends that neighborhoods are far different today because of the growth of cities. We live in a neighborhood of strangers, and our interactions with them cause little or no discourse or meaning. It shows how the author of the book makes it clear from the beginning that her premise is about the people who inhabit the cities of her topic, and not so much the cities themselves.

From the Paper:

"Lofland also discusses the threat we feel from strangers, and how we react to this implied threat. In today's society, strangers are often a threat, and so we tend to avoid them at all costs, especially in public situations. The person standing across from us on the subway platform could be the man of our dreams, or an axe murderer looking for his next victim. We are afraid of strangers because of the autoimmunity of our society, and our cities. There are many different types of avoidance behaviors people exhibit when strangers surround them, such as in terminal waiting for a bus or a plane, or at a social engagement where they know none of the others in attendance. People go to fairly elaborate measures to ignore strangers in these situations, such as reading books, sitting in one spot and ignoring everyone around them, and moving from place to place investigating everything in the room so they are never in one place long enough to make contact with anyone else. These avoidance mechanisms say a lot about our society, and how we are all strangers to one another."

More papers on "A World of Strangers":

• Creative Essay # 44108 : "In Case Of Fire"
• Book Review # 100797 : "Meursault: A Stranger to Society"
• Analytical Essay # 67451 : "Intellectuals and the Phenomenon of Violence"

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