Browsing by Author "Susilahti, Atte"

This master's thesis examines the concept of the Simmelian stranger. The concept is studied by relating it to Simmel’s other works, as well as to it’s persistence in many of the recurring themes in contemporary social theory. The first part of my thesis examines the epistemological foundations of Simmel's social theory. By defining the 'social' both as the a priori condition of social interaction, as well as a form that emerges trough this interaction, it becomes possible to study social life without reducing it to either the individuals or the society as a whole. The ‘social’, it is argued, can then be thought of as a Simmelian ‘third’. It is through this analogy that the connection between Simmel’s philosophy of sociological knowledge and the sociology of the stranger becomes apparent. It is suggested that in understanding the constitution of the stranger as a sociological form of the 'third', a somewhat impressionistic reading of Simmel’s philosophy and sociology is warranted. Part II of the thesis focuses on the stranger's role in Simmel's general analysis of modern life. In this context, strangerhood as a phenomenon is seen as one way of adapting to modernity and the new kind of social dynamics that come with it. Strangers, therefore, are seen as elements through which the unpredictabilities and tensions of modernity are confronted and managed. Strangerhood emerges both as a precondition for individuality as well as a reminder of the antagonism between the individual and the society. Drawing on and developing from earlier Simmel-studies, a chart outlining different typologies of strangers is presented (p. 49). It is also suggested that even though the unusual has often been of less interest to general sociological theory, it is through the concept of the unusual stranger that Simmel's 'plumb-line' between philosophy of knowledge, sociology and metaphysics can be understood. In the third part of the work, three distinctive ways of conceptualizing strangerhood are briefly discussed by relating them to the readings and views presented earlier. From the perspective of a systematic sociological theory (e.g. Rudolf Stichweh), strangerhood in global world-society is seen as a semantic impossibility. The experience of strangerhood, according to some theorists, has become either universal or invisible, making it unattainable by scientific categorisation. In other words, the stranger is claimed to have 'lost' its role as the 'third'. This view, however, is disputed by some theorists of late-modernity (e.g. Zygmunt Bauman). Although strangers represent ambivalence and blurring of boundaries, it is at the same time through its relationship to strangers that any society is constituted. It is the stranger who reveals the impossibility of 'solid modernity' as well as the inherent ambivalence within the modern project itself. A third discourse on strangerhood draws from the postmodern social theory combining it with semiotic and psychoanalytic cultural philosophy. In this increasingly impressionistic approach the experiential, aesthetic and phantasmatic elements of strangerhood become intertwined with post-structuralist discourse on subjectivity, knowledge and even mysticism. The thesis concludes in briefly outlining how assumptions of strangerhood and strangers are constantly negotiated through topical discussions such as those concerning multiculturalism and identity. It is claimed that although strangerhood itself remains a vague and elusive concept, it is through understanding and questioning our relationship to strangers both without and within that any dialogue or compromise between indifference and dogmatism can be established.