In "Together Alone: Personal Relationships in Public Places," the sociologists Calvin Morrill and David Snow of the University of California, Irvine, along with Cindy White, a professor of communication at the University of Colorado study the concept of fleeting relationships. The book argues that individuals should make efforts to connect with others in public places, like sports games, grocery stores, and so forth. This book argues that these “fleeting relationships” do hold an emotional connection to the other individual. This argument was based on evidence from strip clubs and the male costumers. Those with anchored relationships, which are relationships linked to a specific location that give more value to individuals, like mutual fans at a baseball game.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/magazine/11ideas1-20.html?ref=sociology
by Mindy.
Thanks to http://www.treehugger.com/two-people-shopping-in-grocery-store.jpg for the graphic.
This is a very interesting topic and I can immediately think of many examples of both fleeting and anchored relationships in my own life. I would predict that Structural Functionalists would see both kinds of relationships as important for maintaining social stability and order. Perhaps these kinds of relationships are increasing in their importance as our social networks shift in response to emigration, immigration, globalization, and other social changes. Alterately, Symbolic Interactionists might ponder how we use sites and site-specific objects as props in our performances in these two forms of relationships. For example, am I really going to the hockey game because I love hockey, or is the game a performance site where I can meet up with others in my anchored relationships? How does the grocery cart become a prop as I wander Fred's searching not only for organic broccoli, but also one of my fleeting relationship connections to chat with?
ReplyDeleteGreat article, Mindy!!