HANNERZ, ULF. (1980) Exploring the City

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EXPLORING THE CITY Inquiries Toward an Urban Anthropology

EXPLORING the CITY Inquiries TOlvard an Urban Anthropology

.

ULF HANNERZ

Nt'l/' )'11/1;

(:olulIlhia University Press

Contents

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hannerz, UI£. Exploring the city. Bibliography: p. 343 Includes index. I. Urban anthropology. 2. Cities and towns. I. Title. GN395.H36

307.7'6

79-29707

ISBN 978-0-231-08376-8

(pbk.)

Acknowledgments

vii

The Education of an Urban Anthropologist

CHAPTER TWO

Chicago Ethnographers

19

CHAPTER THREE

The Search for the City

59

CHAPTER FOUR

The View from the Copperbelt

119

CHAPTER FIVE

Thinking with Networks

163

CHAPTER SIX

The City as Theater: T ales of Goffman

202

CHAPTER SEVEN

Conclusion: The Construction of Cities and Urban Lives

242

Appendix: Analytical Concepts in Exploring the City Notes

325

Heferences Imlex

Columbia University Press New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 1980 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America

P

20

19 18 17 16 15 14 1;3

12 11

1

CHAPTER ONE

367

343

317

Acknow ledgments

The acknowledgments which begin a boo k, but are usually the last part of il to be written, are evidence of a part of a personal network, and of phases of

a

life career. They may document a passage through many milieux, a

\('ries of significant experiences, and a variety of dialogues, ongoing or discontinued.

Toward the end of the introductory chapter, I sketch some of the per­ \onal factors which have gone into making Exploring the City the kind of

IMlok it is, and I mention there three field experiences, in Washington, D.C., in Kafanchan, Nigeria, and in the Cayman Islands. It seems fitting 10

ma

IIl1d

ke note first of what I "learned in these places about what is urban

what is not, and to thank friends, acquaintances, and informants there

('olle c tivcly for what they did to push my understanding along. Those who were most helpful I have in some cases been able to single out, or will in I he future, in other publications. But some, due to the ethics of field work IIl1 d

publishing, will remain anonymous. It is very likely, of course, that

lIIallY

of them would find it difficult to see the links between the concrete

Ihinj.(s we were through together and some of the more abstract notions of

rill" 1( ll I o wing pages. All the same, the connections are there. Turning to academia, it is rather more often possible to discern the dirl"ct influence of particular network partners on what has gone into this

IMHlk, although reference must in some cases inevitably be made to other I'ollt'ctivilies. The most diverse and far-flung one of these consists of those

loll,·aj.(lIl·s and st ude nts who have responded to my views on urban an­ IllIopoloj.(y ill a number of seminars and conferences in the United States, (:lIl1ad ... IIll1d,·

'·'1I1 . .tlv 1111111' II

i-:r lj.(land, and Scandinavia, and allowed me to share theirs. What

a real j.(roup, although by now it may well be almost \l'alll·l\·d. wert· I he parlicipants in an urban anthropology seminar

lip IIII11T of

1 Io-pal I IIlI'nl of AnlhroIMlloj.(y, University of Pittsburgh, where I was

\·j·.IIIIIVo

1I1I'1I11lC'1

.. I Ihl" facility ill 1971· 72. Although by then I had not

viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ix

yet given serious thought to writing a book on the subject, this seminar

careful attention to typing parts and versions of the manuscript in a way

helped me begin arranging my ideas. Leonard Plotnicov and Keith Brown,

lilr which I am very thankful.

with whom I gave the seminar, were equally interested in discussing what

Apart from the Pittsburgh, Manchester, and Stockholm network c1us­

they saw as characteristic of urban life and urban anthropology, in or out

\l'rs, a few other persons should be recognized for the interest which they

of the seminar room, and did much to make that year memorable. I expect

have taken in this book. Through conversations or correspondence, I have

that they will recognize in this book a number of issues first brought

heen pleased to have the views of Gerald D. Berreman with regard to

up in our conversations in Pittsburgh-whether by one of them or by me,

chapter I, A. L. Epstein and J. Clyde Mitchell with regard to chapters 4

I must confess, I cannot always quite remember.

IIml 5, Jeremy Boissevain and Alvin W. Wolfe with regard to chapter 5,

Another academic excursion came at a later stage in the development of

IIlId Erving G offman with regard to chapter 6. An anonymous reader who

this book. During the spring of 1976, I was a Simon Senior Research

looked over the completed manuscript on behalf of Columbia University

Fellow in the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Manches­

Press made several helpful suggestions, only some of which I have in the

ter. Since this gave me the rather rare opportunity to spend a longer period

"IHI been able to follow. And John D. Moore of Columbia University Press

and writing without major distractions and in a

has been a most friendly editor, even as the completion of the manuscript

reading,

thinking,

stimulating milieu, I am very grateful to my then colleagues in Manchester

\VIIS repeatedly delayed.

for taking me in. John Comaroff, Chris Fuller, and Keith Hart were espe­

As it will now come before the reader, Exploring the City is a somewhat

cially helpful as conversation partners. Because the role of the Manchester

different book from that which I first expected to write, when I began the

department has been so prominent in the development of anthropological

project of organizing my view of urban anthropology. This is partly because

urban studies, however, the advantages of that period also varied from

I rl'alized, after a while, that the time would seem to move ever farther

something as concrete as specialized library holdings to a rather less tangi­

1I111'ad of me, like a mirage,

ble but still real sense of a proper ambience for my concerns.

vny wide scope originally intended. And it would hardly fit between two

� hen I could expect to finish a volume of the

Y et it has naturally been in my home department, at the University of

mvers anyway. Even as it is, Exploring the City is not a very small book. It

Stockholm, that I have had the greatest opportunity to try out various ideas

IIlIlY be that I will find other opportunities to deal with issues and materials

over the years during which this book has been in (not always lineal) prog­

tlllit IIIUSt now be left out. But another reason why the book has perhaps

ress, and that the book has also taken shape in other ways. Seminars on

npallded a little here, contracted a little there, and struck out in some

Urban Anthropology, Personal Information in Social Relations, Career

dlll",t iOlls which I had not first thought of, has of course been the ongoing

Analysis, and Cultural Analysis between 1970 and 1978 have been espe­

IlIlhll'lIl'e of friends and colleagues. It will not, I hope, be the end product

cially useful in this regard, and the participants in these constitute another

"lillY dialogues with them, as I wish to have many of them in my network

rather tightly-knit group which I must thank collectively. Stefan Molund,

\\'111'11 I lI10 ve on to other aspects of the anthropological study of cities. Whatl'ver merit this book may have, then, I think I should share with

Kristina Bohman, and Tomas G erholm have also at one time or another been through various chapter drafts and have often helped me clarify my

I h,,\,· who have helped and encouraged my undertaking. Unlike a handful

assumptions and straighten out my argument through their criticisms, also

"I 11·,1'111 au thors, however, I think it would be unfair of me to suggest that

bringing illuminating ethnography and other references to my attention. A

I h,,·,,· \\'ho have offered such support should also be prepared to take a part

group of colleagues, present or former graduate students of the depart­ having been among the best guides an urban anthropologist could have,

IIII' I,iallll' Ii,r ih va rioll s faults, The convention that this burden should III' , jill .. .' I I.y lilt' alit hor alolle is one which I accept. After all, if this were .1 IHH,k Ihal illY fri"lIIls alld colleagues would wholeheartedly want to be

when I have visited them in the field, in cities in three continents. And

.1·.·...

ment, again including the three JUSt named, also have my gratitude for

four conscientious assistants in the department, Kerstin Lagergren, Ulla J:orsJll'rg hiiman, Cunnel Nordstrom. and Lena Haddad. have given their

.. I

' 1,11"d \\,11 h. \\'0111.1 II1I'Y not have written it themselves?

III .. tI ... 1 \\'.IV·, ;1', \\'1'11. Wilting tl'lIds ill the end to be a lonely undertak1111(

I I ... ,... 111111'" 11''1""'''' I hay"� I'011 lid for till' lI10st pa rt during periods

x

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

away from the entanglements of urban life, in a secluded summer house with a garden full of weeds and aged fruit trees, with visiting cats and a resident hedgehog, in southern Sweden. This, perversely, is where this book on urban anthropology was begun, and this is where I now reach its completion. Even for a committed urbanite, it may finally be acknowl­ edged, the country may have its uses. Utvalinge, April 1980

ULF HANNERZ

EXPLORING THE C ITY Inquiries Toward an Urban Anthropology

CHAPTER ONE

The Education of an Urban Anthropologist

Only a liule morc than a decade ago. there was hardly an urban anthropol­ Uky. A concern with urbanism as a part of civilization, and an interest in defining its properties cross-cuhuraJly, had already taken a handful of .cholars to Timbuktu and other faraway places. But as late as in the early 19605 one student of comparative urbanism could remark that anthropol­ OJtlsts were "a notoriously agaraphohic lot, anti-urban by definition" (Benet

1963n:212).

Only in that decade did the tendency of anthropologists to go

10 cities (or simply to remain in them) become really pronounced. There wuc several reasons for this. In the exotic societies to which anthropol­

Ilkl,!S habitually gave most of their attention-and which they were now

I"-llming to describe as "the Third World"-people increasingly left the ,lIIages for new and mushrooming urban centers, and the students of their Uves could hardly disregard the fact. In the United Stales, many anthro­ f'(llogisls were more di�tly louched by developments at home. In the

19505, Ihe American self-image had been one of an affluent, homogenized

1111115 society; intellectuals complained of an excess of mediocre con­ furlllism. In the 1960s, ethnicily and poverty were rediscovered, and more ,l,ell than not they were defined as "urban problems." In Europe al the

11I1IIe: time, International labor migration, and to a lesser extent an inAux of r fll8,ces from political upheavals, were changing the character of many cit-

14)1. There was

3

search for new understandings, and anthropologists felt

Iher could play a pMt In it. They had specialized in "other cultures" but hltr which olhers might frown upon. In the small community each

of the�e people might have been the only person of a J.:ind, and the IlI nhlllt!' uf conformit), would have hindered expressions of what would Ihe'll I�' lIlt'r� kllo(yncracy. PArK {Iealt less effectively, however, with just

111.11

wlllli It WII" IIHlt l>fOplc !"rouJtht to I n te ract over. l Iere he tended to fall

26

C H ICAGO

ETHNOGRAPHERS

back on an individual psychology, treating personal inclinations to one kind of behavior or other 35 more or less given. Thus the city was seen more as a permissive than as an actively shaping influence-it tended 10 "spread out and Jay bare to the public view all Ihe human characters and traits which are ordinarily obscured and suppressed." By now we would probably wanl to push our inquiry rather further into the social-structural deter­ minants of behavior in the city. To describe the separate "moral regions" or "social worlds" became one of the major tasks of the Chicago sociologists. But the fact of the coexis­ tence of these worlds in the city could also lead to further questions about the relationships between them. In a passage which could by itself seem enough to stimulate mueh research, Park gave a glimpse of one way in whieh they could interact: The processes of segregation establish moral distances which make the city a mo�aic of Hnle worlds which touch but do not interpenetrate. This makes it possible for Indj�lduals to pass qUickly and easily from one moral milieu to

another, and encourages the faSCinating but dangerous experiment of 1i�'ing at the same lime in se\'cral different contiguous, but otherwise widely separated, worlds. (Park 1 952:47)

This facet of cultural organization in the city, however, was to a much greater extent left unattended by his followers in the years to come. One might perhaps see the writings on the "marginal man," launched in 1923 by Park himself, as taking up this thread. although many of them lost themselves in a quagmire of inadequate conceptualization. But here as elsewhere in their work on the moral order, Park and the other Chicagoans tended to lea\'c behind them unfinished business rather than failure in de­ veloping an understanding of urban life.

As with P L A N T S : The SPA T I A L O R D E R of the C I T Y There was rather more systematic effort i n illuminating what was seen as the other major dimension in urban life-indeed in all human life-that of the raw struggle for existence. Already in his first major paper on tht· city Park had noted the extremely varying characteristics of the neigh­ borhoods; he could also witness that these characteristics did not remain stable over time. In the words of one of his students (Zorbaugh 1929:235), an observer of the Chicago scene in the early twentieth century could sec how

C H ICAGO

ETHNOGRAPHERS

27

f�,hlonable residential streets have become the heart of the rooming house dis­ Idct; rooming houses ha�e become tenements, tenements ha\'e been reclaimed rur studios and shops. CrotJp has succeeded group. Iht world of fashion has become the work! of furnished rooms. and into this world have come the slat­ 'tmly residents of the slum. Tht Irish Kilgllbbin has become the Sw�ish Smo�y UoJlow; the Swedish Smoky 1101l0w, a Unle Sicily; and now Linle "'Icily becomes a Negro quaner.

P"rk reAected on these changing patterns in a series of papers in which h\1 dC\'elopcd his "human ecology." This was an analytical perspective where the peculiarly human phenomena of consensus and communication Wt!lt

of negligible importance. and where the inspiration from social Dar­ winism was obvious. There was a stratum of human life in which people 11'lId(..'(1 to behave like other IiYing things, a "subsocial" or "biotic" stratum where L"Ompetition was the basic form of coexistence. While such tenden1 111. might or might not be checked by higher-order factors, such as moral l un�l r:tlnts, they had a great impact in shaping the modern city. Park j'HHld the analogy with plant ecology particularly fitting and elaborated on III ut ility for urban studies of such concepts as dominance, symbiosis, and '"\: '(uion. Most m i portan\, however. was competition . and he saw it as a thlll l>Ctition for space. Thus the strongest inhabitants of the urban envi­ It,ument would occupy the most advantageous locations, and others would IIlI'u�t to their demands. Over time, the former might expand so that hthers would have 10 relocate. The principle of symbiosis, according to whiCh different inhabitants could benefit mutually From coexistence in an IIHllrQnmenl, was a modifying factor in the general scheme. f'hrk's own writings on human ecology were mostly statements of general 1 111t1 Iples coupled with apt illustrations. It fell to younger associates of his, 1'.lrli ulllrly Roderick McKenzie and Ernest Burgess, to elaborate on the ' Ililcepis nnd show practical applications. The latter especially did so wit hl n Ihe Chicago context. As human ecology was conceived as a sociology ilr �pn 'C (U1d since competition was the major force of regulation, il was \ill(lcl'.tood that the various human activities would be distributed accord­ hiM 10 IUlld �alues. From this Burgess deriv(.'0ui human IllllUrc was coupled with one of the poetic minds of IUllh,oprilogy. The firsl source or field experience (in the 1920s) which led him Iv Iile L'QnceplK.IIl of the folk society showed only traccs of such a way III life

.he htrttlsh ylUnge of Tepoztl"n, some sixt), miles from Mexico

60

T H E S E A R C H FOR T H E C ITY

City. RedfieJd the n went on 10 . del'cla hiS I'dcas In the context of search project a reinvolving four comm n le$ on the Yucatan penin sula: Maya lriba/ village, II a peasant villa COmmercial lown, somewhal cosm arxf a city of opolitan charaCle . nstlcs Fro therc on, he eIaoorale on the continued fa COntrast between r 10I" and City , and the In . City . . changing the 10 A ucnee . . of the folk I' n writing s over a pen'ad 1 950s. I Reading strelchmg · into the Ihese , as w{,II as olher wor . . ks 0r hIS, ' IS an enjoyab llcnee to some, but le expe evidenlIy an InHal . mg one t0 01hers 1I was Tusik the lriba . J VI"IIage, Ihat could 5enc e.-. • most nearly l ur the folk society as a model BUI Red" . lie Id 100, care to po Int OUI Ihal the constrUCted Iype: . latter was a

� ��.

�.



'

"



T� kleal folk SOCiety

Jo be ' d fincd t could h rough assemb Ihe characters whi ling, in Ihe imagin . c h are al" l� �ern cily, only if WI.' h ad8fu / ;:1':� se whic h are 10 be found in s ge of non-urban �II us to determine people 10 what indeed a e rcity living. T _.l f the characteristic features of mad" he com",,,,' procnl ure ern rt!quir u�, 10 gam . ma y 0 ,II SOCieties in many acqualn tan« With parIS of the WQr a" .J era�enough to describe.... to set down in words gen­ most of th h ;nac �e ri s icS which Ihey common with each other and t have in whi;;:� 1947:294) ern CUy OOes not \ hal·e. (Redliekl '

� �d

�;:;



T�c

typical folk SO iety, he went on to say C , would be an wllh minimal outside isolated sociely COnt..... ..... ". I IS mem�r L. s are ' . III IlltJma . . h one anolh WII le communication er. There is little . SIC mob ity, at kind which wouk{ J Y least of the upset relations w h � -Il SOCiety or Increas Ruences . Comm unicat e extern al illion ,. , 0nIy by WO' ll of ut h . . -no Wrrtmg eracy to compete � and no lil­ with oral tradition . or to keep It In check. The member the Folk SOCiety s of are much aII.,e. In louch only w'th l Ihe same ways one another they of thinking and Jearn do'109-"habits are the same as CUstom . The old people s. . find thI.' younger genera tions do' Illg what they thems did at the same . elves age, as there is little change. Th ere IS a strong bdong.mg together; sense of each member has . "a st ng claim the others " The on the sympathies . . � of division of I a . bor IS hmlled Ia that oetwe woman, the division L. en man and of kllOwledgI.' lik eWls ' e. The folk fident, as people SOCiety is self-suf. produce what they consu me and consume produce. wh,1I tht,y Its culture is very much of one Piece. Norms, val ues, l' e\'erybod same for and oe LI·Ids arc Iht' y. What IX'OpI e I tl i' nk should be dolie Is collslslenl what I hey believe is donc Fvc r 1/' witII w Y ling III . t I ie cuhurc Is

7; : �� �1

.



clo�.. " ly

61

THE SEAR C H F O R THE C ITY

I

_, . .v llll L'i: It "'( .

wllh everything else. The round of life does not proceed from one activity .., another and different one. It Is one single large activity, no part

"hl(-h could be separated without affecting the rest. The power of the

.... ty

I

of

SQ­

to act consistently and meet crises successfully is not dependent on

l")Ower of individuals or devotion to some single principle. but due to

l'ttI I(tncral consistency of actions and understandings. One is not disposed

..,\urd reflecting over tradition in a critical or objective manner. There is

,.., .yftematization of knowledge. , he conventions tying people

to each other are tacit rather than explicit to situations in the

"I\.! contractual. Another person is expected to respond

"lUll way as oneself and is dealt with as a person rather than a thing. In

t. t. this tendency is extended so that things are also often treated as per­

,,"II, Furthermore. relations are not only personal-they are familial. It is

Itl the tenns of a universe of kinship linkages that relationships are concep­

lu.llu�d and categorized, creating what differences do exist among them. 1 he kin are the type persons for all experience." ' I he folk society is a society of the sacred. NOlions of moral worth are at­ ItI( htti

to ways of thinking and acting.

All activities

are

ends in themseh'es

.1\(1 express the va1ues of the society. There is no place for the entirely sen, And education, the lower class included all others. Con-

78

THE

tact between the fwo strata was minimal insofar as the elite limited its interactions to the necessary ones with servants, astrologers, musicians, merchants, and craftsmen. Furthermore. people tended to signal their status through dress. style of speech, and in other ways, so that approp­ riate understandings of deference and demeanor could be maintained. Anonymity, to the extent that it is a matter of social category rather than personal identity, was not a characteristic of the preindustrial city. Within the lower class, of course, there were gradations of rank. but none as importan t as the gap between the classes. Occasionally merchants could COllvert wealth into inHuence and even make a way for themselves or their descendants into the privileged class. One reason the elite tried to keep them at a distance and to limit their inHuence, however, was that merchants, through their contacts with all sorts of people, including stran­ gers, could be a threat to the existing order. Entertainers, as well, were regarded as a more or less subversive element. Below the richer merchants were a vari�ty of traders and craftsmen, as well as unskilled laborers-servants, messengers, load carriers, animal drivers, ditch diggers, and others. And mixed with these, of course, beg­ gars. petty criminals, and others of indeterminate means of livelihoo:l. The typical form of organization among these lower-class occupations (even thieves and beggars) was the guild. Depending on the requirements of the occupation. it served various purposes, such as control of business oppor­ tunities, regulation of recruitment and occupational socialization, control of internal conHict. and mutual aid. The constituent business units them­ selves were small. The technology hardly gave much room for economies of scale in the crafts. Due to the circumstances of their livelihoo:l, lower-class people could not easily maintain large households and close family ties. The poorest might even lack any family connection whatsoever. Among the elite, on the other hand, �xtensive networks of kin were of major importance for maintenance of group cohesion in general and for recruitment to office in particular. The offices held by the elite tended to merge with their per­ sons, and fields of authority were vaguely defined. There was little notice­ able class conHict--elite divisiveness and external threats were at limes more significant. Perhaps it should be said also that the lower-class was actually even more dividC(l. Its economic organization crentcd little overllil cohesion, it could be split by ethnic as well as sectllrilm diversity. (md It lacked the homogenizing Innuence which

a

IIlcrluc ellhllr-e h�1

011

11ll'

SEARCH

F O R TilE

C IT Y

79

elite. The lown criers, story tellers, street singers and actors tended also to 5hape links of knowledge, beliefs, and values which tied lower-class pe+ lion that it is practical to han> differenl functions grouped logether rather than scattered, it is likely that one of these groceries will locate as a neigh­ bor of the furniture store. Working on in this manner, one arrives at a hierarchy of central places. In the highest-order place, one or more functions are provided with such high thresholds that they cannot exist in any additional place in the area concerned. In second-order places those functions are located the thresh­ olds of which are next highest, yet low enough so that more than one can be squet:zed in within the area served by the highest-order place. And SO forth. Apart from those functions which are most demanding as to market size and which therefore define the place of a center in the hierarchy, it

THE

S E A R C lt

FOR THE

CITY

93

tmerging in part through an interplay with its rural surroundings as well 115, directly or indirectly, with other centers. Hetuming to the terms of a Wirthian definition of urbanism, one might lily that central place theory refers to the cumulative ordering of heteroge­ neity-if the different functions are seen, in a slightly different perspe'"

we assume that there is some upper limit to the total amount of involve­

bors, as they acquire content of a recreational or even quasi-domestic na­ , lUre. are partially coopted into the domains based on mterest as opposed to

people than in a smaller and more sparsely populated place. If, like Weber,

ment of one individual in social relationships. however, it is uncertain to what extent these potential relationships to accessible persons will be real­ ized. One might look at this as a species of demographic JXlssibilism; cities and urbanites make different use of direct person-to-person accessibility through their forms of social organization. (And. of course. these latter also intervene to shape certain links between urbanites and physically somewhat less accessible people. away from the city in\'Olved,) From the pool of potential interaction partners made up by the entire urban population, the city dweller thus draws a greater or smaller number with whom he will engage in the activities of houschokl nnd kinship, provisioning,

work.

recreation, lind

nclghb()rlll�.

The

fClI1plndcr

rue

arate relationships. (This furthermore means that links between neigh­

mere propinquity , )

. The fact remains. however, that it Is through varied inyolvements In

relationships which are relatively segmental and concentrated in particular domnlns that the urbanite can make the most of the accessibility of other



city dwellers, in other than traffic relationships. The kinds of linkag s be­ , twccn domains whicb we discussed earlier may come back mto the picture here. Quile possibly. people spread their involvements with other city . dweller, most widely wben relalionships between domains tend toward In·







determlnllcy, For some urbnnites more determinate linka es m y not o IY

Wec1ry cOlllbinutlon5 or s l tun l lOlltl l in\'OiYcmelllS, hut also Impiy interaction

II2

THE

SEARCH

FOR

THE

THE

CITY

S E A RCII

F O R T H E C I TY

m

with the same people i n two or more domains; people who are colleagues

could be of handling it. Another aspect of anonymity may be that the in­ teractions of an individual who remains unidentified in a sense iml)lve a

events during their leisure hours. They become ralher like the Iypical

low degree of fatefulness to him.)7 Anonymous acts are acts dissociated rrom his presentation of a determinate self. Knowledge of his actions is not

may opt for each other as neighbors as well, and go to the same sports u,ban vil/ager, in Oscar Lewis' Mexican

l'eeindad or elsewhere,

who tends

to recruit the same handful of people as partners in one SOri of situation after another. Domain boundaries may become blurred again. H Bul in one respecl at leasl, these people are different from a real villager. For sur­ rounding that tiny group. as they will find if they move around the city at all, is a sea of slrangers and traffic relationships. There is hardly any way, then, in which a city dweller can avoid having

an)'

relationships of a segmental, impersonal. and superficial character.

With his contacts spread out, some of his other relationships may even in some degree come to resemble traffic relationships, meetings between strangers. This seems particularly likely in the domain of provisioning. The greater Ihe centricity of an individual in a certain function, the more tightly will he tend to budget his invoh'ements among his many allers. As some of Wirth's critics have pointed out, the striving for such centricity, and the lack of personal concern between the panics to a relationship, may be accounted for more directly, fur example, by the principles of market

added for future reference to the dossier which, figuratively speaking, other people keep on him. The uses of anonymity and the steps urban soci­ ety may take to constrain it could be problems for investigation. One should be aware, at the same time, that anonymity is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon. If an individual cannot be personally identified, by connect· ing a face to a name, anonymity may at least be limited in some of its con· sequences by recognition of some less exact identity, such as ethnicity,

class, occupation, age, or sex-Sjoberg noted this In The Preindustrial City. These qualities seized upon in impressing meaning on the stranger must naturally be expected to vary among societies. The accessibility of other people in city life, however, does not only in· volve the handling of contacts with strangers as individuals. If for any

given urbanite at any given moment the city has a surplus of people who are not part of any of his more significant relationships, they may still be

exchange than by the type of seltlemenl. But to push speculation a step

relevant in other ways. It is possible, for example, to think of people in the city as mannequins,

further, one might see the great city as the ideal environment of rela­

putting a variety of meanings on show in such a way that anyone can

tionships focused on the cash nexus. The people engaged in them may en­

inspect them, accept them, or (eject them, without becoming heavily com·

counter each other in no other context, and the Row of unknown people in

mitted to interaction or identification with the personnel concerned. Traf­

traffic relationships provides a model for instant interactions where person­

fic relationships may entail such a parade of impressions, in particular

alities are left OUI. Urbanism and market exchange may be in symbiosis, in

because they are often only a side involvement of people at the same time

a way similar to bureaucracy, which, with its ideals of impartiality and

engaged in other activities. Walking through city streets, one may zigzag

strict definitions of relevancy, is said to work with least distraction where

through a ball game, catch a glimpse of a craftsman putting the final touch

the scale of social life is not too small.

to his pnxlucts, overhear snatches of half a dozen conversations, cast a

Anyhow, a part of the urban anthropology to come must concern rela.

tionships between strangers, relative Of absolute. J6 Anonymity is a key no. tion here. Wirth ga\'e it a certain emphasis but not much in the way of all'

glance at assorted shop windows, and stop for a moment to evaluate the tal· ent of some street musician. One can scarcely avoid pondering over the part played by such experiences in the urban cultural process.

alytical consideration. To many of his readers it may have seemed mostly

It is another aspect of accessibility, of fundamental importance to the

an emotive term, but the exact role of anonymity in social relations re.

understanding of the potentialities of urban social structure, that where

mains problematic. One facet of it is the lack of predictability in the anon­

there were once no relationships, new contacts could come into being; rela­

ymous encounter. Not knowing anything about the biography or another

tionships between strangers could change shape, becoming closer and more

individ ual, it is difficult to fOfecast his actions, whether in tcrms of COlllpC'

personal with new content. An illuminating example is the "view on the

tence or predispositions. Uncertainty thus sccms to be characteristic or urb:"III socilll interaction. lind one

lIIay

It

rairly COlIIlllon

IIsk wil:1! WilY' tht'r.'

"reet" In Lyon In tile period or the French revolution, as described by BlcllDrd

bb ( 1 975: 12S-26), nn ethnogrnphkally inclined historian of ev·

II

II

1 14

THE

SEARCH

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C ITY

T il E



SEARCH

F O R THE

C ITY

115

eryday life. Starting out from dedarations of pregnancy and seduction

combination with given tendencies toward variation i n the population, they

made before magistrates by working women, Cobb paints a picture of the

may affect the evolution of subcultures. If the propensity for some mode of

possibilities for watching the street spectacle, making new acquaintances,

thought or action is scattered, only the city may hold a sufficient number

and engaging in a furtive rendez-vous, which were inherent in a naturally

of the people concerned to give them a greater chance of coming together to Interact over what they share. And of all the people accessible in the city,

peripatetic occupational practice: The brodeu�, the dlvitkuse, the cou�use, the tllilkuse, the bbnf(:his5ewst, the IIpprltlwst, the milrchtnuk de modes, even the domestk servant, IiIle their

various masculine equivalents, fire constantly walling the city, espcc-ially within the ct"ntral peninsular, and bearing the handy and visible prelC1I:1 of some �rrand-a half-finished waistcoat, a three-cornered hal awailing its , trlmmmgs and plumes, a dress that still needs to be embroidered. a woman's h�t that is still to be ironed into shape, a basket of wet linen, a bouquet con­ , tammg a note, a dozen bottles of wine, a tray containing a meal prepared by a gargotiu, a tray containing cakes and pastries, a brace of pheasan ts a box of tools a sack full of old clothes-the tell-tale passports to the freedom of out­ side during working hours. ,

,

In this particular case one can see how sorts of traffic relationships (cor­

they may choose one another as partners for the sake of this opportunity. This interaction could lead both to the stabilization of the viewpoint or type of behavior involved (since it would oow enjoy group support) and to Its further cumulative development. What may be latent or barely visible concerns of one or a few individuals in a smaller community, in other words, may be amplified and elaborated when many like-minded people are about. Robert Park's notion of "social contagion" shows that he was aware of the fact. It is in the bigger dty, usually, that one finds not just the single pianist but a musicians' occupational culture, not one quiet political dissident but a sect or movement organized around an ideology, not a lone homosexual but gay culture.

ruptible for other purposes) depended on an organizatkm of the provision­

Such an explanation of heterogeneity actually involves a variant of cen­

ing domain which we may regard as largely preindustrial. The general

tral place concepts. As everybody in the interacting group is simultaneously

point is that accessibility makes possible a certain Auidity in the structure

a supplier of the service concerned and part of the market for it, the

of relationships. In the small community, a person could conceivably go through his entire life knowing the same people-its entire popula­

members together raise themselves over the threshold for its emergence, within that convenient range of accessibility suggested by the city limits.

tion-with birth and death the only factors of change. In the city there

We may also consider what may be the advantage of the elaboration of

could be a greater turnover among one's partners in any domain of activity.

divergent form in a situation where the possibility of a reshuffling of social

The individual's total set of relationships may wax and wane; but even if it

alignments is always present. One might see in the quest for conspicuous

remains stable in size, new faces may join the circle while others are

individuality in a place like Minas Velhas a desire to claim the attention of

dropped. O r in segmental relationships old faces may appear in new con­

others, to achieve a satisfying selection of social relationships and not to be

texts. Wirth's oote on the transitoriness of reJationships in the city could

left out when partners change . } ' launching a new style of behavior, cloth­

be taken to refer to the relationships which are over after as little as a

Ing, or other noticeable form could lead to such competith'e advantage (and

single contact, such as in the busde of public places or in the hurried

here we approach Wirth's Darwinian persp«tive toward differcntiation);

exchange between a shopkeeper and a customer. It could also refer to the

only if onc is too successful and the n i novation is adopted by many the pur­

fact that much closer lies among urbanites may likewise come and go to a

pose is lost. and something else has to be tried. The diversity of urban life,

greater extent than elsewhere. On the basis of demography alone-bul

frolll this vantage point, is not stable. As Kroeber put it in his

again it is a matter of demographic possibilism-the urban condition

( 1 948:283),

crelltes notable opportunities for achieved as opposed to ascribed social

but of fads, novelties, amusements, and the Heetlng popularity of persons

relationships.}' A couple of comments may be inserted here on the way such opportu­

nities may tend to increase urban heterogeneity, even oUlSklc Ihe orgAnl1.G­ lion of diversity in the domain of provisionil\�. One 1'O'!llblilty Is 111111 In

Anthropology

it is characterized by "fluctuations of fashion, not only of dress

liS well as things."

In these ways, then. It Is possible that the greater accessibility of people to one another In the city lIIay maHer in its own right. With regard to both

mode. of behavior and 5pt..'C lfic individuals, the city can be a system of

116

THE

S E A RC H

FOR T H E C I T Y

THE



scanning and pickups. Asserting this much, i t is also necessary to Slale some of the qualifications. Accessibility, as we have saM:!. is not always realized: it depends nOI least on forms of social organization . When there are determinate connections

between relationships and activities in different domains. as we have ex­ emplifled above, this will cORmain the choices otherwise made possible by accessibility. The material investments and the buildup of competence in

certain relationships and lines of action may c\'en otherwise be such that the cost of change would be too high. And what an individual may do, and witb whom he may engage in yarious activities, may be so culturally regu­ lated in olher terms as well that the alternatives which may be available in

the m i mediate habitat are simply defined away. It is quite possible for recruitment to certain relationships to be ascriptive within some smaller population (or for that matter achievablc only within such a population),

even if recruitment through wide-open achievement woukJ seem to make more use of the urban situation. The effectiveness of constraints like these is worthy of consideration, as well as whatever strains may be detected bc� tween them and the temptations of a more abundant environment. It also remains a possibility that people simply routinize their social rela­ tionships as well as their intellectual and behavioral reporroires, seeing no reason to change just because alternatives present themselves. The cily ma}' offer such a wealth of impressions and contacts that the individual is unable to cope actively with it all, and therefore becomes less receptive to each new impulse; allention slackens, This point has been argued by Milgram (1970), wilo by bringing in the concept of overload from systems

theory st!ems to come closest 10 up:lating Simme/ and Wirth on urban ennui.

SEARCH

FOR T H E

\17

C ITY

One slightly accepted if conlact is made through known intermediaries. a silU tion in ility, paradoxical point is that such modification of acceSSib achieved be may where a large part if not all of a person's relationships



inaccessible for rather than ascribed, can be managed so as to make him not least to useful is This nity. commu the of significant contacts to most others having without own, their of the groups wanting to cultivate a life there livelihood a peeping in. The fact that members may be able to earn sanctu� city a through impersonal relationships contributes to making the ary for them.

serious one, for One final complication 'ooks as if it could be the most thought. Ac­ for frame a as urbanism as such as well as for a sense of place ication commun on cessibility depends not only on the spatial factor but also

e, distance technology. Where cars and telephones are generally availabl where one and face to face be must on interacti counts for less than where of people ration concent physical travels on foot. In the extreme case, the ) it defense for as (such would no longer serve a purpose. In some ways an in out points this could even be dysfunctional. Boulding (1963: 143-44) bring: essay on "the death of the city" which the future could spread "ery evenly \Ve can even visualize a society In which the populatiOn is g and.p.ro­ circulatin each ds, househol ient self-suffic almost in world the over each d�rJ\�ng eessing everlastingly its own water supply through its own al.gac, . 111 commuOicallo� all the power it needs from i ts own solar ballenes, each zed tele" I­ personali s t i through with icate with an)'body it wants to commun of the wor sion, each with immediate access to all the cultural resources reposI­ through channels of communications to libraries and other cultural ic world slate tories, each basking In the security of an invisible and cybernet tn>e and none in which each man shall Ih'e under his vine and his own fig shall make him afraid.



Just because individuals are within convenient reach, furthermore, it docs not mean that they always arc or want to be on view, or available for

So the conditions underlying the equation of man's use of space would

interaction. Where too much accessibility is a problem, privacy becomes a

have changed. Although no longer very constrained by a relationship to the

l'aIUt�. For what activities or relationships protcction is sought, however, or

lund, his interdependcncy with other human beings could continuc with­

against whom , is also a mailer of social organization. The built urban envi­

alit much attention to distance. Thc city could pasS away, while it might

ronment serves as one component in this regulation of access. Sjoberg, we

sccm as if the urbanl1.atkln of thc countryside would continue. Indeed we



remember, noted the inward-turning houses of the elite in thc preinc.lus­

may be moving ill this direction, but not equally quickly in all partS of t e

trial city. Some kinds of actil'ilies are assign!.,,1 space to which w on openings

these relationships would thus be one of the motives underlying

for personal information thai people feel a pain of personal obliteration,

conduct. In an essay with Kellner, Peter Berger has

driving them into other relationships where they can compensate by ex­

marriage in the social construction of reality. Through the long conversa­

pressing their seh'es more fully. Ideally, on the continuum of relaHonships

tion which makes up much of their relationship, the SJXluses keep on

fonned by personal information, these are at the pole of intimacy; speci­ mens. it seems, of the lotal openness of I and Thou in the cornmunitas

delineated by ViclOr Turner

( 1969).

analyzed

human

the role of

building a shared view of the world around them which becomes stabilized precisely because it

s i

shared, externalized. It is a world-building activity

which draws on the round of experiences outside the relationships as well,

What, then, is accomplished for the conception of self in these different

importing, in other words, elements to be reworked and built into a com­

relationships? To begin to answer this question, one may have to lake on

mon and relatively coherent culture. These can stretch back to childhood

more directly the problem of the construction of the self (as opposed to the

experiences, and they also include the day's events at the office. The

presentation of self) through interaction. Coffman tends not to make much

world-building activity also in a sense exports its products, as the sJXluses

of the issue of where the individual picks up his own idea of himself, as he

are likely to take the perspective into outside activities too. In general

is or as he wanlS to be. That idea is simply there , and he wants it acknowl­

terms, such a relationship entails an important "nomic process," contrast­

edged by others. And in the Goffmanian sociology of deception, this can

ing to the possible anomie in the world view of the isolated individual. In

hardly itself be a goal. It would presupJXlse a noteworthy measure of self­

the more particular terms immediately relevant to our discussion, however,

deception to assume that other people's acceptance of a self falsely pre­

this process also gives the participants a stronger and more integrated sen51'

sented can feed directly into the individual's own concept of self; at most,

of who they are than is available in most other relationships. "Marriage in

he could take pride in being a skilled liar. Fundamentally, however, the s0-

our society is a

ciology of deception deals with a more open system of transactions, where

redefine themselves" (Berger and Kellner 1964:5).

the pretenses to a certain self are com'erted into resources of quite dif­ ferent kinds, such as more tangible services or material goods,

dramatic. act

in which two strangers come together and

Berger and Kellner, obviously, are not describing just any kind of mar­ riage. It is a contemJXlrary western companionship marriage, and even as

But one may wonder whether even Glffman's sociology of sincerity quite

such perhaps somewhat idealized. The meeting of the minds seems to work

covers the construction of the self, in approximately the sense which

out better than may always be the case, and the reality construction work

George Herbert Mead suggested. No doubt the construction and mainte­

going on in the relationship apparently has little outside competition. In

nance of the self can be to some extent aided by routine interaction rituals.

the terms of Eliubeth Bolt's study of couples and networks, this is a joint

Yet often these involve others to whom the individual does not attach much

conjugal relationship between people whose external links are rather

signil1cance, and the relationships involved are frequently segmental in a

loose-American middle·c1ass rather than British working-class. Yet the

Wirthlan sense. There is a relatively small frontstage, and a sizeable bad·

Important point is not so much whether marriage has this particular part

stage, If the individual's interactionally based construction of self can be

In the construction of self or of reality in general. It is rather that some

merely the sum of segmental selves, there need be no further problem. If

rclnlionships, somewhere, may be somewhat specialized in performing

their integration shoukl also be anchored in interaction, on the other hand,

ulch a service, although they are not necessarily the same for all individ­

this construction of self seems to be most importantly accomplishL'tl

unls and almost certainly not the same for all social structures. 29 One can

through the openness of relationships rather more like communitas.

81:e I)(lrrillcis here also with Robert Paine's analysis of middle-class friend­

A number of writers have contributed to the delineation of s uch rela· tionships in recent years. a Denzin ( l970a:262-63) touches on the issue with his concept of "self·lodging," explicitly contrasted to Coffmnn's "pre­ sentation of self." The individual's conception of self is seCII

:IS

1008(.'(1 most

securely in certain relntionships, nnd lO return with SOIllC frcclilellcy to

.hlp In modern society. The notion of friendship, Paine observes, is not the snme 111 nil societies, and thus anthropologists, moving between levels OJ' cmlcs lind comparative study, have had trouble dealing with it. In mod­ ern mlddlc-clllss soc ie ty, however, the basic meaning and value of friend­ �hlr I� It �lISe of worth: not ICDst, " the friend is someone who understands

230

231

C I T Y A S THEATER: T A L E S OF COFFMAN

C I T Y A S THEATER: TALES OF COF F MAN

one, who can explain one to oneself" (Paine 1969:507). And it is an "ex­

disclosures, or simply different sorts of disclosures about himself than the

planation" which is made reasonably credible as the friend is underslOoo to

other party docs, or he may use personal information concerning the other

be knowledgeable about the subject, for friends also communicate openly about themselves to each otheLlO Again, it is a rt'lationship strong on per­ sonal information and weak on normative control. Possibly we can conclude this part of OUT discussion by agreeing that the

which may have been collected in other relationships and which the other

docs not know that he has. To stretch the framework II little and speak fig· uratively, in the manner of symbolic interactionism, an individual in a relationship may disclose things about himself only to himself-out of one

self may well become a mOJ'e important focus of consciousness in the sort

relationship Into another, for example-while withholding it from the

of social complexity more or less strongly associated with urbanism. In

other party. And, of course, if more than two people arc involved, as in the

other words. the individual may be aware of being "someone special, " in a

team perfurmances of The

descriptive if not always evaluative sense. There can be an awareness of

can be seen in the distribution of personal information within a situation.

PresenUltiQn of Self,

more intricate patterns yet

self in the Form of a recognition of distinctiveness when fewer people arc seen to lead very similar lives, and the consciousness of both roles and self as distinct entities may increase if there are roles under strong normative control which arc somehow felt to be intrinsically unsatisfactory to the in­ cumbent. It need not be altogether surprising if the indiVidual becomes a

S E G M E N TA L I T Y A N D S E L F - P R E S E N T A T I O N Here we seem to get to the second part of our argument concerning the usefulness of Coffman's perspective to the understanding of urban life.

preoccupation of symbolic activity under such conditions, or if an opposi­

Our concern Is now the more centrally Goffmanian one, how the self ap­

tion between the "real" self and the social structure becomes an important

l)Cars to alter rather than how it takes hold in ego's own consciousness.

motif in the rhetoric of individuality. Of the latter idea, however, we can

The way social relations are put together in the city, establishing one's

perhaps usefully be just a little sceptical. It is difficult to think of a self set

Image to others can be

wholly apart from its social involvements. While the individual need not be

kinds of social formations.

II

rather different matter there compared to other

just the sum of his roles, he is at least in large part a particular way of

Robert Park's remark on "skating on thin surfaces" and the "scrupulous

joining them together and performing them, with pleasure in some cases,

study of style and manners" in urban relations fits in here. But we can also

perhaps distaste in others.

51'art out from another statement by Max Gluckman ( 1962:35-36), in his

Some relationships, we have also seen, appear to play a greater part in the pnxluction of this perhaps more elaborate imaginative artifact of a self, and others a greater part in the display of the finished prociuct, although many relationships are dearly involved in both. The Coffman perspective toward the presentation of self must ha\'e as its counterpart a viewpoint toward the self undergoing social construction. This implies that the di­ mension of personal information in social relationships which we have made note of before is rather more complex than we might at first have thought. It is not just a matter of one party offering information about himself to the other party, for use in the conduct of the relationship. It can also happen that one individual is influenced by the other's indications

about him. We could as well recognize at this stage. too. that thcre arc

further possible variations. The conceptual working-out of the klea or awareness contexis by Glaser and Strauss ( 1964) shows some ahcrnlll h'cs.

One party mlly make grealcr disclosures about h imsclr. or morc trulhl'ul

Analysis of the prevalence of ritual in general, and rileS de

passage

in partic­

ular, in tribal society: . in the vcry conditions of a large city. looked at in (:ontrast with tribal SQ­ c1ety. the various roles of must individuals are segregated from one another since they are played on different stages. Thus as a child maturu he moves out or the home to inrant school, primary school, and serondury school, and within each of these phases he moves from class to class. Each year of his growth is mDrlccd by this progress; and each time he advances a step. he IlMlves. within a distinctive educational building, from one to another. Then in one stream he progresses through higher educational institutions, housed in Ihdr own buildings. to work as a salary-earner; or, in another stream. he goes dlrOlllP1 apprenticeship. or as a juvenile employee. into his role as a wage­ turner. Work goes on in offices and ractories. in quite distinctive buildings rrom those In which most people live, worship, and seek their recreation. or INlrtlcll);lte III poli tical lire. Religious worship takes place In permanently sane­ lllial buiklhlKs. And these various activities associate individuals with quite dlfTerl'lU fellow.: .t .ehool twins IIrc likely to be the only members of a ramily In Illel SIiUlel cI�u, fHetories AIIClllbtc IX'Qllle drawn rrom largc areas; and so do

232

OF

COFFMAN

CITY AS

most religious congregations. How a child behaves 3t school, or a man as a worker in his factory, does not immediately and directly affect familial rela­ tions, although it may well do 50 in the end; there is segregation of roles, and segregation of moral judgments.

This is a variety of the folk-urban contrast, and another way of express­ ing the idea of segmcntality in urban relationships. What most obviously connects the statement to Goffman is the use of dramaturgic metaphor. Under urban conditions, according to Gluckman, life takes place on a mul­ tiplicity of separate stages; a little more cautiously, we may admit that this is at least the general tendency. And audiences are different each time.

THEATER: TALES

OF

COFFMAN

233

Ronnie's behaviour was gloriously inCQnsistent. He was a thug, a respectable businessman , a philanthropist, a socialite, a mother's boy, a patriot. a strong­ man-with-a-heart-of-marshmallow. a gunman, an animal lover, a queen. at the eod, a tweedy country squire with his own estate in Suffolk. Caught at any one moment, his identity had a perverse dramatic perfection . An astonishing number of people never doubted that he was what he seemed. For every audi­ ence. he had a different voice and face. and people who saw him performing in one role did not guess the existence of others. lib repertoire would have been the envy of many versatile professional actors, and he could effortlessly slip from part to part during the course of a single day. The secret lay in keeping his audiences separated; it was only when he was in the dock that they came together. and then it was to destroy him.

\Ve may say that under such circumstances, the difference between what

Another variant is to intrcxluce in one performance information of doubt­

is made known about the self in a particular situation and what could be

ful validity concerning another performance. This is apparently what hap­

known involves the parts which the individual plays in all other situations.

pened in the mau-mauing of the flak catchers, according to Tom Wolfe's in­

The latter are in a sense backstage; with respect to any one situation, the

terpretation cited in the previous chapter. The bureaucrats had no way of

city would thus seem to have a high backstageffrontstage ratio. If on the

telling whether the wild men turning up in their offices were real ghetto

other hand one could think of a society which is only one single stage-a

leaders or not. They could only be more or less taken in with the claims

most extreme type of folk society, or, for inmates, a total institution with­

made.

out an underlife-the difference between the presented self and the self

The city may thus offer. rich opportunities for presentations of self which

that could be known would have to center on an "inner" self, not normally

would seem more or less consciously deceptive. From a slightly different

revealed in overt behavior. This is a rather problematic notion. It seems

nngle. it also provides chances of escaping in some relationships from a self

clear that in the mode of impression management involving the greater

which cannot be avoided in others. We may think here of Berreman's

number of separate stages, there is more room for maneuver, and greater

( 1978:231) suggestion that the city is not an ideal environment for the In­

possibilities also for a dramaturgic analYSis grounded in observable facts.

dlAIl caste system, since it can allow people at least situationally to slip out

The contrast is a coarse one, but it hints that

Homo goffmani

is more

townsman than tribesman.

of that place in the hierarchy which in principle should define their entire social existence.lI But risks could be involved in seizing such apparent op­

The city, in other words, is an environment where there are many and

portunities. If one is aware of what people are in one's various audiences,

varied ways of making oneself known to others, and one where a great deal

one would presumably be careful enough not to make contradictory presen­

of manipulation of backstage information is JXlssible. The opportunities are

tAtions where one knows that audiences overlap. One might not have suf­

there, in the social structure. What people do with them, and how con­ sciously they seize upon them, can vary considerably. In the remainder of this chapter, we will point to some of the possibilities. One of the things an urbanite may do is to disconnect performances. Nels Anderson's Chicago hoboes, we may remember, told each other noth­ ing about their backgrounds, although presumably what was thus held back largely pertained to their past. It is also possible to switch back and

forth between perfonnances; an extreme case in point is the life 01" Ron­ nie Kray, partly of the London underworld, as sumrnaril.t.'tl by Hab/III

(197H7i

liclent network awareness, however, to realize that separate audiences can

be In contact in their back regions. Not only the separation of stages but ulliO sparse networks are a prerequisite for the kind of presentational ma­ neuvers we are looking at here. Where gossip comes in, impression man­

fllolement may have 10 go out. A notable example of what may come out of a

fnllure 10 keep audiences well apart is blackmail, a species of crime which cieflrly feeds on a differentiated structure of relationships like that of the

t.'i1y,Jl

Tllere nrc other more specific ways in which variations in an individual's prC=�I·IHAlloll of �clf "'Jly be nffected by. and may themselves influence, the

234

23 5

C IT Y A S THEATER : TALES Of COffMAN

C I T Y A S THEATER: TALES O F G O F F M A N

way networks are put together, and there are thus advantages in integrat­

is not on, perhaps it should have been, for although you may not recognize

ing the dramaturgical perspective wilh network analysis. One sel of ex­

the other person, he may recognize you. Intentionally or by chance, the

amples may be found in those relationships of provisioning where the ser­

seemingly innocent co-presence may actually be a case of surveillance,

vice rendered by one party consists of receiving and acting uJXln personal

where significant personal Information Rows in one direction only. And al­

information disclosed by the other party about himself-the relationship

though our network awareness with respect to strangers is by definition

between doctor and patient, for example, or lawyer and client. This kind

near nil (we may, of course, note their withs in a co-presence), they may

of information could often be damaging to the latter party if it were allowed

be, and may know that they are, only two or three links away from us

to spread, and he would rarely use it in other presentations. A professional

through more tangible relationships. As another possibility, such an indi­

code is therefure introduced which is assumed to constrain the use of such

rtct linkage could be discovered only later b)' both parties, after one or both

knowledge. The question is, to what extent does the client, patient, or

have made appearances out of line with their presentations of self within

someone else in an equivalent role, place his faith in such purely normative

that linkage. Either wa)', a credibility gap may result.

restrictions? It could be that he prefers making a new contact for such a

We need not take our tracing of the connections between dramaturgy

relationship, rather than going to someone he already knows in another ca­

lind networks any further for the time being. Certainly there are great op­

pacity (thus making the relationship multiplex). The latter could entail

portunities for daring impression management in the city, as well as for di�

switching from one presentation of self to another in front of the same per­

sastrous occasions where contradictions are found out. It is important,

son, probably not a comfortable undertaking. Furthermore, the individual

however, that we do not think of the connection between urban social

might prefer that the new link be isolated from the rest of his personal

�tructure and the management of impressions only as a matter of the

network, rather than deeply embedded in it. This would be double insur­

chances city people have.of concealing what outlandish things they may

ance, just in case normative constraint on oL!tstde disclosures on the part of

have done. For one thing, presentational manipulations are not typically of

his alter should not suffice. And, of course, such a precautionary measure

the magnitude of those of Ronnie Kray (whom prison psychiatrists later

may appear even more reasonable in establishing implicitly or explicitly in­

Judged schizophrenic). What people try to restrict to back regions are less

formation-processing relationships where no professional cocle of discretion

ofu!D likely to be really dark secrets than secrets which are light or me�

exists. Even shopping habits may be regarded as cont9.ining sensitive reve­

dium grey; not spectacular deviance, but minor sources of embarrassment.

lations of one's personal life. An anonymous supermarket clerk may not

Or it may simply be information held irrelevant to the performance in

think twice about one's purchases, however, while Mr. Brown in the

I)rogress.

corner store who chats with all one's neighbors would perhaps never forget.

For another thing, people may be as interested in revealing as n i con­

cealing. and if there is anything interesting about the rather humdrum ac'

At this point, we should probably consider again the habit of network

tlvlty which impression management often can be, it is perhaps the com­

analysts to think only of more enduring, personal relationships as signifi­

plexity and uncertainty which may go into the interplay between these two

cant network components. Particularly when it comes to information pro­

leltdencies in the presentation of even quite an ordinary urban self. Here

cessing, this practce may have its limitations. The strangers whom the city

we come back from yet another angle to our continuous interest in the or­

dweller meets in traffic relationships, and in some relationships of provi­

�unll,ational and cultural implications of urban role diversity, and the net­

sioning like that to the supermarket clerk, are, we have said. at least very

work diversity which goes with it. Again we assume, for the sake of argu­

nearly non-persons in Coffman's sense. At times this may mean that one is

menl at least, that the diversity of roles is considerable, and allows great

not particularly careful with what self one projects in the interactions con­

freedom of combination. Wc can also makc the usual assumption that

cerned. As we also noted in chapter 3, they are assumed not to be fateful. In a way, we may take for granted that there is safety among strangers. But there is a problem of dramalUrgical circumspection here. If the show

when

1m

Individual Is (:oncerncd al all with what becomes of his image in a

Cerl/lln relationship, he has at least some vague idea of how he wants or

(1(1e' IlOl WIiIlI to be seCIl, and of what information might lead to either

236

C I TY AS THEATER: TALES OF C O F f M A N

C tTY A S THEATER : TALES O f G O f f M A N

view. There are times when the presentation can be unproblemstically

map of them all, and an individual does not carry his entire repertoire of

237

made up cnlireiy through those activities which are, so to speak, intrinsic

roles on his sleeve, the way he does with conspicuous role-discriminatory

to the rel::ationship, through compliance or noncompliance with relevant

altributes like race or sex. Thus it is not only that society cannot easily

norms. and through allention to personal style. Occasionally some special

make sure that everybody conforms with whatever may be given standards

effort goes into such presentation as well, as in the instance of Coffman's

of combinability. Just deciding what could be such standards is less simple

Sarlresn waiter. Perhaps in some cases this may also be related to the

insofar as ego and his alters lack a mutual overview of each other's stages.

diversity of urban living. Where many alternative social situations 3re pos­

There is the further complication that an individual may be drawn into

sible, a skilled performance may be needed 10 define which one is in­ tended.

roles due to circumstances beyond his control rather than to his personaJ volition. Whether this is always clear to others trying to gauge his self,

In other instances, however, the individual defines himself at least par­

however, is an aJtogether different question.

tially by allowing information (or disinformation) from his other involve­

With respect to networks the situation is similar. One may be judged by

ments to filter through situational boundaries. And thus the question

others not merely by one's activities but also according to the company one

arises with what degree of elaboration and fidelity to the facts that entire

keeps. Thus to an alter, the characteristics of ego's other alters on other

self is presented which can be made up from the individual's repertoire of

stages may be a matter of some interest. Here again, we might think first

social involvements.

of the withholding of information about linkages to well-known villains and

The problem may be what kind of consistency one expects from an indi­

fools. But such reticence as there may be about revealing the qualities of

vidual, and how one feels that it should be reAected in his round of life.

one's associates is really rather more likely to concern lesser mismatches

Anthropologists are by now well aware of the importance of situational

with what is at any one lime one's frontstage behavior. The people in one

selection in the ordering of behavior, and at least in an implicit and imper­

network link or segment may just seem too dull, too unserious, too conser­

fect way, the principle is no doubt also understood by laymen. Few might

vative, too radical, too pious, too nal've, too anarchic, too HighlY, or too

really expect absolUle consistency, for example. between a person's behav­

much of a number of other things to seem even indirectly presentable to

ior at home and at work. Yet there is surely some sense of the propriety of

the people elsewhere in one's network. Again, however, the limits of toler�

various combinations of involvements, in both ego's and alter's minds. It is

anee may be hazy.

for this sense of what goes with what that the di...-ersity of an urbanite's in­ volvements could sometimes cause difficulties.

The many forms of impression management in everyday urban life can

perhaps often be related to factors of roles and networks such as those just

In principle, we may have learned to expect, an individual's selection of

mentioned. There may be occasions which one would prefer to keep well

roles should express a unitary self. As a mailer of minimal required fit be­

Insulated from one another because of the contradictory demands they

tween them, they should consequently not imply sharply contradictory per­

mAke on the self, but which impinge on each other so that at least certain

sonal values and beliefs. To be both a member of a strict religious sect and

of Its accoutrements must be mnde to match them all . At worst, the experi­

an eager gambler is probably in the eyes of most people to overstep the

cllce may be like that of a chameleon on multicolor patchwork. The situa­

limits of acceptable inconsistency. Ronnie Kray's way of life was in this

It

tion of Barbara Lamont (1975:5), a New York radio and TV reporter, at

suggested multiple selves. And

t he beginning of a day is an illuminating example: "I stand naked in front

from this dark secrets may be made. But when will diversity be interpreted

of the mirror asking myself, what can I wear to a funeral that I can also

as contradiction, and what can one do about that information about one's

wear on lin undercover investigation of a housing project that I can also

doings which seems to strike a jarring note?

wellr to my 1IIllIIyst that I can also wear In front of my station manager that

sense more than a combination of roles.

In the city with its relatively opaque structure, even the shared and

I CIII1 ulso wear to dinner at the One Hundred Sixteenth Street Mosque?"

precise sense of what goes with what may not be so strongly devclopt.'t!. So many different kinds of social iO\'olvcmenlS occur that nolxxly has II ciellr

\vllich Iln ej(O AllclllPts 10 romKI out an alter's picture of him in some

We CAn also IUclltify dlfferellt tactics of willful disclosure, through

238

C I T Y A S THEATER : TALES OF GOFFMAN

desirable way. Factual infonnation concerning other involvements may be introduced, or at times, not least if alter has already received such informa­ tion through some other channel (such as gossip). the emphasis may be on supplying an interpretation which in some way or other clarifies its relation to the self. Yet another of Goffman's essays, that on role distance (1961b:85 Ff.), provides insights into one way of doing this with roles. It is not just that you either have them or you do not. You can communicate to others, ex­ plicitly or in less obvious ways, whether a role is "really you" or something peripheral, perhaps accidental or forced, by showing attachment or dis­ tance to it. Coffman's example is the child on the merry-go-round who sig­ nals to onlookers that he is getting too old to really care. Somewhat simi­ larly, there are what Scott and Lyman (1968) have called "accounts," verbal devices used to bridge the gap between actions and expectations. There are two major categories of these: excuses and justifications. The former can be used, in the situations of disclosure we are now discussing, to suggest that a certain kind of involvement may be disregarded as a part of the self. Ego acknowledges that it is inconsistent with the under­ standing of his character that he wants alter to accept, but he denies re­ sp:msibility in some way or other. In justifications responsibility is ac­ cepted, and an attempt is made to show how the involvement does fit into the self being promoted. Needless to say, there are many revelations which can be made routinely and unproblematically, as no inconsistency is understood to be involved. Different segments of urhan society, however, may be variously demanding in this respect. There are circles where an awareness of contradictions in city life fosters a degree of tolerance so that excuses seldom appear to be calJed fur. It may even be one form of urban sophistication to define a desirable self in terms of its ability to cope with, perhaps derive pleasure from, involvements which would seem to stand in opposition to one an­ other. Here what could appear to be probable materials for dark secrets may instead be merrily paraded in the presentation of self, and every in­ consistency becomes its own justification. It is likewise possible that the sort of accounts accepted in one part or urban society will be rejected in an another. They, and other ways of guid­ ing disclosures about what happens on one's other stages. could perhaps be seen, then, as cultural forms with some more or less specific distribution. Because urban rotc constellations and networks can be so vnri(:d . however.

C I T Y A S T H E A T E R : TALES OF COFFMAN

239

there will often be something tentative and innovative about the way reve­ lations are made. One cannot always be sure whether they will be met with approval or censure, and some new thought may occasionally have to go into pulling an act together. As we noted brieHy in discussing network differences in the preceding chapter, there may be a contrast here to the sort of social arrangement where role constellations are small and standard­ ized, and where discrepancies are thus also of recurrent form. Where the urbanite may have to experiment with an original presentation of self, the traditional small-scale society may have instituted an avoidance rela­ tionship, routinely anchored in the collective consciousness.)J Why, then, disclosures? Few questions may be more important for the understanding of urban life, and it brings us back to issues raised toward the end of chapter 3. If we take the Wirthian view of urbanism too liter­ ally, we may be stuck with an overly static picture of relationships among strangers. It is o�e of the useful ideas of Max Gluckman's interpretation of ritual, as cited above, that through communicative work, people can change those definitions of persons which seem to be inherent in a type of social structure. In his calle, the rite de passage is used to make an adult, lind thus a new person, out of a child. Although relationships between the same individuals of Resh and blood will continue both before and after the initiation on the same stage, a threshold of discontinuity in their form has been marked. Similarly, in tribal society people may interact with the same others in multiplex relationships over a wide range of activities; but through ritual, whole persons can to some degree be fragmented into roles, SO that what happens in one kind of involvement need not affect all other (ncets of a relationship. With disclosures in the presentation of self in urban life, it is the other way around. People who are only directly observ­ IIhle segmentally can turn themselves into more or less entire persons. In the city, that is, some of people's most important relationships may hove to be made. Urbanites do not willy-nilly find themselves familiar with (III the people they would want to have in their more durable networks, the wily someone conceivably could as a by-product of growing up in a small community. Instead some close rdationships may have to be built from scratch, beginning in contexts which need not hold out any great promise for the purpose, where people could equally well remain quite remote from (Jnc (lnothcr. To get anywhere soon in establishing oneself as a person uuder such conditions, one may have to "come on strong. " Au1i1l'opologlslS hnvc Indc('tl �omctimcs commented on the special ways

240

C ITY A S THEATER ; TA L ES O F C O F F M A N

CITY A S THEATER: TALES OF G O F F M A N

241

-

in which city people may seek each other's recognition. W e remember Har­ ris' emphasis on the quest for individuality in Minas Velhas. Riviere (1967:577-78) brieRy suggests a related variant in Lewis' The

Children of Sanchez,

8

may have moved out of the range of relationships of primary interest to Erving Coffman. We can see, however, that it is through one tactic or

reanalysis of Oscar

another in the presentation of self that city dwellers often make their �s'

in terms of honor and shame. Because in

cape from anonymity and segmentality in social relations. Personal disclo­

the city, one's background may not be known to others, the n i dividual

sures, more or less artfully constructed, are a dynamic element in urban

search for demonstrable honor becomes more intensive. In Mexico, Riviere

life. Coffinan has heightened our awareness of their fonns and processes,

concludes, its conspicuous form is

machismo.

Perhaps more directly to our

and this is one reason why we may see him not least as a major contributor

point, Lewis (1 965:498) has himself commented, on the topic of classic

to urban anthropological thought. He has furthermore shown us a way of

folk-urban contrasts of social relationships, that "in modern Western

thinking about the dangers as well as the opportunities that an uneven dis*

cities, there may be more give and take about one's private, intimate life al

tribution of personal information may entail. There is also in his work a

a single 'sophisticated' cocktail party than would occur in years in a peas* ant village. ,

penetration of the modest rituals through which seh'es are worshipped

.

which can inspire further ana1ysis of symbolic activity in a city life where

Some of these exchanges may merely offer entertainment for a brief en­

the pantheon in question may be richly diverSified, A consciousness of self

counter, and other things can go into catching an alter's attention apart

and the management of personal information, of course (as Coffman would

from disclosures brought in from the back regi'on. But certainly filling out

certainly agree), is not all there is to life, in the city or anywhere else. But

the picture of oneself by revealing something about one's other involve*

perhaps we are not consistently aware of them because they are, in one

ments is one major way of personalizing a relationship. It is in the process

way or another, almost always with us. If this is so, Coffman has proven

of making a friend out of a neighbor that we tell him of our work and our

himself a master of "the exotkization of the familiar," which we have ear*

family. And it is a part of the definition of closeness in ongoing rela*

IIcr pointed out as one of the valuable products of the anthropological imag*

tionships , for example within the household, that disclosures about outside

Ination. He has the ability, as Bennett Berger (1973:361) has noted. of

involvements are continuously made. Normal procedure in building such a

"rendering strange and problematic the very assumptions and routines

relationship, of course, is hardly to turn oneself insKle out in one silting.

which make ordinary sociaJ life possible and worthwhile." Our remarks in

There may well be critical points in the process, connected with decisaons

Ihe latter part of this chapter may have gone some way toward clarifying

to disclose information to which unusuaJ symbolic importance is for some

some of the connections of this perspective to ideas we may think of as cen*

reason attached. But on the whole, it is likely to be a gradual process. where ego. before proceeding further, may wail for alter to react to revela* tions and to respond in kind. The process may be halted if the relationship in its new and expanded form turns out to be a disappointment. On the other hand, as it proceeds, alter's demands for completeness in ego's disclo­ sures may grow stronger, so that at some poinl ego begins to lose conlrol

over his presentatioll. FinaJly, indirect knowledge of ego's wider role reper­ toire and network. made available largely through his verbal revelations, may no longer be enough, and alter begins to appear in person on the other stages as well. At this point, old divisions between frontstage and backstage have broken down; and if ego has been aware of the possibility, this has presumably for some time constrained an)' tendencies toward fancifulncn in his presentations. Here, too, as we can glimpse the demise of iml)lCssion Illnnagclllcnl, we

trai in urban anthropology.

CITIES A ND URBAN L I VES



C HA P TER

243

SEVEN

_..

One might discern some lack of analytical precision in their eth­

Conclusion: The Construction of Cities and Urban Lives

nographic work, however, and an important reason for this may be that Chicago social theory, as it evolved, paid less attention to relations between people than to relations between the latter and space. As we got to Wirth's "Urbanism as a Way of Ufe," we could sec that in part, he restated Park's views, and in part, he lingered on issues of social organization . But he was less than cautious in his generalizations about the nature of urban rela­ tionships. The city seemed to be one and indivisible, and perhaps rather more like Chicago than any other place. Moreover, Wirth was more ron* cerned with what ·the city did to people and their contacts than with why people made cities at all, and his city thus appears as a given fact and as more or less a closed system. Without rejecting everything that Wirth had to say, we thus went to

Let us now retrace OUf steps. The analytical ideas and the inter-pretations of urbanism which we have sampled are quite diverse. To the extent that we are merely suggesting that there are a few things an urban anthropol­ ogist should know there may be nothing wrong in this. since a liberal edu­ cation is not necessarily distinguished by its tight logic. Yet we would

prefer to draw from them also some reasonably organized set of under­ standings, commensurable with the emphasis

on

ethnography and a rela­

tional point of view slated by way of introduction, which could serve as a basis for the orderly growth of an urban anthropology. We began in Chicago, with Robert Park and his students. Park couk! al the same lime think on a large scale about urbanism and observe it in de­ tail. He was aware that some relationships in the city, at least, had rather peculiar qualities; he saw the possibilities of cultural process in the urban environment; and he drew allention to the variety of "social worlds" con­ tained in it. He noted the profound importance of the division of labor in shaping life styles and community structure, and through his ideas of ecology he anchored his analysis of urban variation in a certain sense of place. Other Chicagoans contributed pieces to Park's plan, in a series of pioneer ethnographies of youth gangs, ghetto dwellers, hoboes. and others. If they did not achieve anything like full coverage of their city. they at least showed how much there is to be learned about the ways p'-'Ople live in a place like Chicago. And they demonstrated-some, admillooly,

II

liult!

more persuasi...ely than others-the importance of field work ill the ICllm ing process.

seek remedies for ethnocentrism and other weaknesses through a tour of historical and geographical perspectives toward urbanism. We saw that chies could be seen as centers of societies rather than as isolates, and that different systems of power and exchange created their own varieties of such centers. Taking an extreme view, one might thus say that even if the city everywhere can be deAned as a sizable, dense settlement, the basis for Its existence as well as its form can be understood only with reference to Ihe centripetal tendencies of the particular social system where it is found, lind to its cultural forms. Yet a thoroughgoing relativism along such lines

hilS

ralher limited support, and students of urbanism have instead tcnded

to Ihink comparatively in rather broad terms of political economy and tech­

nology. Courttown, CommercelOwn, and Coketown were the designations we came to use for three major types in the history of urbanism. Behind iliCh a label, however, any onc community can hide quite a complex slruc* lure of activities. We took nole of the geographers' central place theory as one way of thinking about how cities and systems of cities may thus be pul IOgelher, but we realized also that its locational concerns are not always l' in other kinds of tics liS

rcmurried. (This may be where change of relationships is actually least

well. Sometimes one may recruit a business associate this way. More often it will be someone to share leisure activities with. Where one finds a neighborhoOO intenSively and reasonably hflrmonl­

ously involved in its own internal relationships, this usually seems to be

due to its particular chemistry of inside and outside roles of neighbors, 1\1

least somc of its people havc lime over for neighborliness; people know

household domain are things quite the same, for he has divorced and tharacteristically urban, since there are traditional rural societies with high freq uencies of dh'Orce; not least the Rhodes-Livingstone anthropol­ ogists have told us this.) The potential for personal change in the dty, then, mlly hardly be rivaled in other community fonns. We may call this the fluIdity of urban life. SYlltcmntlc lind concerted efTorl5 by anthropologists to study the tem-

270

CITIES

AND

URBAN

LIVES

C I T IE S

AND

URBAN

271

LIVES

poral dimension of social relations have mostly been devoted to the domes­

strained by the roles he already has and the relationships connected with

tic developmental cycle and to the social reAections of maturation. In a

them. The degree of predictability, however, and the amount of personal

small-scale society, this may cover much of whal is involved. If we looK al

control exercised, are variable. One may describe as a "careerist" an indi­

urban society in role terms, on the other haoo, we could consider the theo­

vKtual who is preoccupied with career management, with the direction and

retical possibility that the variability which can be observed between indi­

timing of phase changes in his future. If he is successful, each phase

vidual repertoires at one time could occur within one repertoire over time.

wouki be entered because it was chosen over that preceding it, in whate"er

Here the changes in kin roles may be the most predictable ones, as in the

domain would be involved. (But, of course, an unsuccessful eareerist is

analytically quite well-conceptualized. developmental cycles. The passage

still a careerist, while not all with successful careers need be careerists to

through provisioning roles has also been a focus of research, although

any great extent.) Such a career could come in different versions. Let us

mostly in the SOCiology or more or less bureaucratic organizations. About

change and stability in recreational and neighboring roles less seems to be

look at a couple from the domain of provisioning. One of them could be seen as an orderly progression through phases ABCDE. This would be the

known, and also about the ways roles out of different domains are linked in

normal sequence, so that to get from A to E, one would at least be likely to

change.

pass through B, C, and D. When the careerist is aware of this, his major

Fluidity is not just change between roles, however; it is also change in

motive for entering B or C might be that unsatisfactory as these could be in

relationships and networks. New alters may appear in old roles, others arc

themselves-perhaps worse than A-they must be passed on the road to

dropped. Some remain or return. As single-stranded relationships become

the more desirable D and E. (But one could risk getting stuck in them.)

multiplex and vice versa, a co-worker becomes a co-worker and a friend,

Planning many phases aheacl like this may be possible where there is an

then changes jobs but remains-sometimes-a friend. In one phase of his

life, ego has a lot of varied contacts with alters who do not know each

acceptably reliable organizational chart open to inspection, as in a bureau­ cracy. This career could perhaps also be laid out within the provisioning

other. In another phase. the density of his network may have become

domain alone. so that each phase consists more or less of one role, and per­

much higher: its range may or may not have changed at the same time.

formance in it is the criterion for further phase change. Our second form

One should not exaggerate such variations over time. Total flux may be

of career management is a little more complex. In one of the better-known

rare, for more people it is partial. and for some city dwellers nothing much

anthropological career studies, Anthony Leeds ( 1 964) depicts the mo"e­

may seem to ha\'e changed over a lifetime, or at least not since they arrived

ments of individuals through the expanding opportunity structures of

at adulthood. But the full dh'ersity of urban lives is hardly completely un­

urban Brazil. Under strong international inHuence, new roles open up

derstood unless one also has an Ktea of the varied ways in which they

before there is an organized supply of people to fill them. To be able to

change as time passes. The key concept in our perspective toward fluidity

make the best use of such a situation, one should be well-informed. well­

in social life is career; not in the everyday sense of more or less rapid. more

connected, aoo prepared to pick up the relevant skills as one goes along.

or less linear upward occupational changc, which is only one kind, but. 10

Oflen, the result will be that one juggles a number of provisioning roles at

try a general definition. the sequential organization of life situations.6 As

the same time. As one embarks on a carecr, one needs a

examples show, one could limit a career analysis to the roles of a Single

51)ringboard. This could take many forms; making the right marriage.

trampoiim,

a

domain. As the definition implies, one may also try to think holistically

minor but preferably Aamboyant political activity, conspicuous involve­

about the way all the domains are made to fit together in a way of life

ments in journalism or sports. The important part is to begin to establish a

through time.

reputation. in circles as wide as possible. The careerist spends a lot of time

We certainly do not expect careers to be wholly unpredictable. Deter· minacy in the construction of role repertoires actually tends to imply

sequentialily. At no point, it would seem, is the individual able 10 mllkt! a fresh Slart in assembling an entire new repertoire, bUI he Is IIIways

COil

seeking Information, and spreading information about himself.

News

mcdla and kin connCClions are Important hcre. He also spends time simply

fidlPlg.

promenading with his ears open, running into people in coffee

house. or

book Slort!l.

III \hls manner he makes his way into various roles,

C IT I E S AND U RBAN L I V E S

273

but continues looking around aJl the same, also using these roles as vantage

perspective. Sometimes, the unit in focus may be a particular relationship,

points. At some stage he begins joining diques made up of people with

analyzed for the Interplay with a wider network surrounding it. What we

complementary roles who can help look after one another's interests. For

have described before as unilateral encapsulation offers one example­

the successful careerist there are different such cliques at progressively

something one could caU a "dependent career" can result if one person's

higher points on the ladder, finally perhaps of national scope.

life is to a high degree under the continuous Influence of what happens to

This is no simple ABCDE pattern. Each phase apparently involves nurs­

a certain other person. A spouse, children for some time, and perhaps a

ing simultaneously a number of chances for onward movement, and only in

private secretary may firx:l themselves in this jXlsitton, arx:l may turn into

the next phase, stochastically, it may be revealed where the career might

vicarious carcerists as a consequence. "Cherchez lD femme" has become a

lead to thereafter.1 There is furthermore an active management of roles

starx:lard plot for careers in western society.

and relations back and forth among domains, kinship, recreation, and

We should also ask of our larger, conventional units in the anthrojXllogy

provisioning. Although for career analysis one needs a phase concept, try­

of particular domains how they are affected by career facts. In neighbor­

ing to demarcate a phase in a tangle of fits, spurts, and false starts like this

ing, Huidity varies a great deal. There are urban villages, spiralist quarters

may be no simple matter.

like Whyte's Park Forest and Bell's housing estate In Swansea, and Zor­

Springboard jumping and open-eared promenading, however, are as

baugh's Chicago "world of furnished rooms," all marked by their particular

much the work of a careerlst as the quest for merit of a lieutenant intend­

rates of mobility. Changes of residence may be generated by phase changes

ing to become captain, colonel, and general. Other careers take form with­

in another domain, as in the spiralist case, or the reason may be found in

out much planning, and phase changes may not proceed from worse to bet­

the neighborhood itself. Janowitz (1952) has coined the concept of "com­

ter. People may be pushed out of roles when the resource base melts away,

munities of limited Iiability"-when the)' are not to one's liking, one can

or when alters no longer offer themseh'es to keep certain kinds of rela­

withdraw from tbem. This was in a studY' of American suburbia, and it

tionships going (which is sometimes the same thing). Careers may hap­

may be questioned whether they are as prevalent in urban life elsewhere.

hazardly take ahernative forms-ACEDB, AEBDC, CEBDA. These are

Probably not, but on the other hand there may be some danger that we un­

the unfolding fates of people not in control, like Nels Anderson's hoboes.

derestimate the fluidity of preindustrial or non-western cities. Work by

again, slaughterhouse worker-jail in­

Hobert Smith (1973) on historical data from wards in two Japanese urban

mate-steelworker-tramp---robber-political crook. For Cressey's taxi­

communities shows remarkable residential instability in the eighteenth and

For Jurgis Rudkus in

The Jungle,

dance girl, short-term gains interspersed with long-term decline as the

nineteenth centuries, and La Fontaine (1970:1 33) also makes a point of it

young woman shifted among categories of customers, establishments, and

in her study of contemporary Kinshasa. When conflicts between neighbors

roles. Where the careerist strives for ABCDE, the taxi-dance girl got

fiare up, she states, they are often resolved by the departure of one of the

EDCBA.

parties from the housing unit. For this reason, probably, hostilities and

Career analysis may offer some of the most poignant InSights into the

suspicions in this arena seldom take the fonn of witchcraft or sorcery IIC­

different ways that urban lives can be shaped. It can show with some par­

cusations. A survey showed that few people had lived in the same place

ticular clarity what happens as a phase change in one domain reflects on

throughout their stay in the city, and whatever might have been the rea­

others; how different segments of a person's role repertoire and network

IOns ror these movements, many Kinshasa people thought of it as an attrac­

can be "out of phase" with each other, for instance, and make contra­

lIve aspect of urban freedom.

dictory demands which are only to be dealt with through more or less radi­

areer conceptions can be taken further yet, to show in more general

cal rearrangements. The model case is that of occupational success des­

terms what Iluidlty can do to urban life, This touches again on that dif­

troying old kinship and friendship links. The sjXltlight on adjustments or such kirx:ls occurring as people make their way through a Auid soclet), also shows, howe\'er, that career analYSis need not be a wholly ego-ccl1lcrcd

ference betwttn two anthropologkal perspectives referred to in chapter 5,

InlCfI)rcting the growth of interest in network analysis-the difference be­

tween frtlng 1)t.'Oplc as IlllOnymous and conformist personnel, dutifully

I

I I

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27 5

enacting one role at a time, and seeing them as individuals with minds of

narrower links in roles where they do not remain long (and do not expect

their own, trying to bend social organization to suit their own circum­

to remain long), so that the number of links which accrue from each phase

stances and purposes. In this particular context, the latter point of view

in the career becomes smaller. This takes us to another fact of life in a

suggests· that it does matter to the social order who the incumbents of roles

fluid society. Personal disclosure by ego, and an interest in it on the part of

are, where they have been before, and where they may be at some later

aiter, may take time and a sense of commitment which may be absent

time, because they are people with memories and plans.

when a relationship is part of a career. An example of how this could affect

A somewhat abstract example of this is the long-term effect that the ca­

society may be found in those provisioning relationships which are often

reer organization of lives may have on network morphology. If ego moves

held to function best when they are extended beyond the fleeting rela­

through many roles, he will pick up a great many alters over time. If links

tionship-involving medical attention, social welfare, education, law en­

do not altogether lapse (and this is clearly an imjY.)rtant condition), the ego­

forcement, for example-but which in fact are often limited to one or a

centered network in the fluid society will be cumulative; it will increase its

few encounters because the individual in the provisioning role thereafter

range over time. Friendship developed out of some other relationship. we

moves into another career phase. Less conspicuously, one may expect that

noted at one point before, may remain after that other link is broken.

there are many other contexts as well, of a more or less institutional na­

Under a sociaJ arrangement where all people remain in all strands of their

lure, where the individual's degree of involvement is related to tacit no­

multiplex relationships continuously, there would be greater general mul­

tions of phase duration, and where this influences overall functioning.

tiplexity. In the fluid society, single-stranded and multiplex tics alternate

\Vhile his involvement in a current career phase may be somewhat lim­

over time. Surely old relationships may be retained in only a minimal way.

ited, the individual in a fluid society may at any one time have some con­

They may shrink into largely latent acquaintance, or mere recognition. But

cern for the possibility of changing his situation and thus continuously

as long as there is no return to mutual ignorance, the link could be said to

scans his environment for new opportunities in roles and relationships.

exist in some way as a social fact. With this increasing range in personal

Usually he may do so at a low level of awareness, as an unplanned and

network ought to go, theoretically, a greater density in the total network of

unrecognized part of ongoing life, but this scanning can also have some

society. In the fluid society as compared to an equally complex society

forms more or less its own. In different contexts we have mentioned some

where "everyone stays in his place," to rephrase, we would find at anyone

of them-the bar in Hansen's town in Catalonia, jUting in Leeds's Brazilian

time a relatively low multiplexity combined with higher density, although

cilies, small-print advertising (jobs, accommodations, personal). We could

perhaps with many latent links. B

add singles bars in urban America to the list. These, then, are institutions

The social consequences of this state of affairs could include a special

of the fluk! society. It may also have its peculiar idioms, called into use

kind of particularism in the fluid society, as people act with some attention

when a change is about to take place, or is at least to be tested. There are

to relationships fanned in previous phases of their lives, or residues of such

tlmcs when it is appropriate to send out feelers while preserving anonym­

links. If two persons, identically located in the role structure as synchroni­

Ity; some advertising is like this. There are circumstances where one wants

cally perceived, compete for the favor of a third person, he who has had

to reject invitations to join one relationship, but not so brusquely as to hurt

another kind of contact with this third person in an earlier phase may re­

another onc which is already a going concern. There are occasions when

ceive preferential treatment (or its opposite). The particularistic criterion

of the fluid society is "Haven't I seen this person somewhere before?"'

someone has to be shifted delicately from one role to another, in a change of phase to which he might object, as in Coffman's "cooling the mark out."

Such network consequences of changing role repertoires would not come about, it is true, if people marched perfectly in Slep through their inter­ connected careers, so that actual relationships could continue, however

In general, these actual or potcntial phase changes may be critical mo­ ments, situations where much can depend on the successful presentation

redefined. But this would seem like a vcry hypothetical situtlfion. A father

(lr ,elf or mutually supportive ritual exchanges. But they can also be con­ finned by more relflxed rites of passage, like send-off parties for departing

more reasonable qualification to the proposition that changing careers leads

Iplrnllsts,

to wider-range nctworks would be that pt:oplc miltht dc\'elop fewcr

uud

':lukllty CUll thll� hnvc hs

n SOCiHI Hnd cultural 1'0nns. lubrication for

()w

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the machinery of careers. I t may have it-s states of feeling-nostalgia can

ian careers, in a society borrowing heavily from external models, it could

be typical of personal as well as social change. Another aspect of fluidity is

be merely a gleam in the eye of an expansive captain of industry, com­

that ideas derived from the perception of careers can become part of cul­

merce, or bureaucracy, a role looking for an incumbent.

ture, available for more general usc. An obvious example is the way they

We should not disregard the fact, however, that the city dweller some­

arc interpreted as indices of individual character and competence. Occupa­

times does not pick a role off the shelf but prOOuces it in his own work­

tional careers are especially important as carriers of such meaning. Some­

shop; and this opportunity to innovate within the role inventory may in one

one who moves rapidly upwards is bright, someone who moves slowly may

way or another be related to the nature of urbanism. It appears possible to

be dull but still trustworthy. He who moves rapidly sideways is unstable,

distinguish at least three factors underlying such role making.

and moving downwards is a sign of personal inadequacy. Such judgments

The relative rigidity of definition on the part of certain other roles,

may be correct or incorrect. They may be given to disregarding conditions

coupled. with an assumption of the substitutability of incumbents, is one of

which may make it difficult to control careers at all. The interesting fact is

them, These roles may be so discomforting to the people recruited into

that they can be imported from one domain into another, where such in­

them that they must be balanced with other roles which can offer a greater

dices may not exist, although the information is held relevant.

sense of satisfaction. And if roles of the latter kind do not already exist,

One additional point may be made about time and social organization. As

they are created. This is the argument of the deprivation model of self­

long as we are not dealing with social change in itself, we lend routinely to

consciousness discussed briefly in chapler 6, and suggested as an explana­

assume that surrounding the individuals working toward their own goals,

tion particularly for the growth of new recreational roles in contemporary

there is sti l l a relatively stable institutional framework. This under­

industrial-bureaucratic urban society. But roles of the first kind can also

standing may be useful enough, but there are times when the organizations

sometimes in a way "Io!ie touch with reality." They may look fine on a

themselves are set up on a temporary basis, both on a small and a large

chart without actually doing the job they are supposed to do, and so cannot

scale. The contemporary western city is a prominent habitat for such out­

stand alone in the long run. So additional roles grow up around them as a

fits. TofAer ( 1970: 1 1 2 IT.) has coined the concept of adhocracy for tenden­

support structure.

cies of this sort in modern bureaucracies, Mcintosh (1975:42 ff.) notes the

When we speak of "informal structures," we very often have in mind

importance of project organization in contemporary professional crime, and

roles of these kinds, and the relationships formed among them. "The an­

we may remember the "ganging process" in Thrasher's Chicago. This adds

thropologist has a professional license to study such interstitial, supple­

yet another reason for taking an interest in the fluidity of urban life.

mentary, and parallel structures in complex society and to expose their relation to the major strategic, overarching institutions," Eric Wolf ( 1 966:2) has proposed.. We have indeed come upon them repeatedly. Thra­

M A K I N G ROLES

sher's interpretation of the emergence of youth gangs, quoted i n chapter 2,

Thus far we have largely stuck with the idea that roles can be seen as

resembles Wolf's characterization even in the choice of wording. The most

more or less ready-made things in themselves; available, as it were, for

obvious instance otherwise is the "underlife" in Coffman's total institu­

inspection and acquisition in the great supermarket of society. As we take

tlOIlS. We may see these structures as basically defensive devices by which

on one of them, we may be able, perhaps, to modify it slightly from a stan­

I>copie try to ward off the damages which could be inflicted upon them by a

dard or average form in order to make it fit snugly into the rest of our rep­

social setup which they cannot control. As Wolf points out, that setup is logically, if not temporally, prior to them. It is, of course, possible that the

ertoire, but in essence it remains the same role which we see recurrcntly

roles which come about in this way themselves will stabilize and become

modeled in the life around us. This point of view seems useful enough for many purposes. There arc even occasions when a role can exist as an idea within

11

society even before

anybody has taken it upon himself to enact i t . In the cllse of U:l'(l s's BrUIII

pnrl of nn nvailable role inventory. But it seems as if, in no small part, they Me AgA in nnd IIgain gellcralt.>d anew.

I I' !lOme role mAking Is defensive, nOI (III of it need lJc. The second factor

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-

of which w e may usefully be aware i s thai the variability of role repertoires can ilself be a mother of invention. The more there is of such relatively free variability, Ihe more likely would it seem to be Ihat an individual can combine his dh'erse experiences and resources in unique ways and place them in new contexts, thus taking a lead part in creating situations which have not occurred before. The imagery of entrepreneurship seems to be the point here. Think of each situation, as it more normally occurs, as a sphere of its own, with a rather routinized flow of resources and experi­ ences. The person who can combine situations and break down the har­

279

where he had recently large part of what he could absorb in the prison y version. What one been. Now he was in practice, in a rather ordinar cultural amalgama­ coonter new of might argue is that later, in the world e delinquent, juvenil former tions in Southern California in the 196Os, the in winning es success thief, and panderer had some of his temporary by giving original sym­ friends, inRuencing people, and living off the land furthermore be bolic shape to some of his old skills; among people, it could experience itive compet thus and able noted, who often did not have compar themselves.

and finally closed down. Overall. the domain of provisioning became more

thirdly, by the Role innovation in the city would seem to be favored, . There is, of possibility of pushing the division of labor forever further im that the Durkhe and Darwin from up course, the idea which Wirth took tion and competi s concentration of people, like other organisms, increase sim­ more rather enl...'ourages specialization as a way out of it. But perhaps le, one can ply, among the large number of people conveniently accessib the most desiring into enticed be can Illso find sufficiently many who of feasid threshol the above it esoteric or minuscule service, thus raising

fragmented. Yet the city did not reaJly seem to be doing worse than before.

bility.

riers between his respective involvements in them in a novel way may find a new role taking form at the confluence. Such original combinations can also be made from elements drawn togethcr over timc In a zigzagging career. Bryan Roberu' ( l976) account of economic change in the provincial Peruvian city of Huancayo can be read to exemplify processes of this kind. In the face of increasing metropolilan dominance, Huancayo's own relatively large-scale textile industry declined

New small businesses proliferated. set up frequently by people who had originally come in from the countryside to work in mines and factOries. In some such businesses. Roberts notes. "a whole migration career Is re­ flected in contemporary activities." A clothing workshop can take over ma­ chinery from the bankrupt factory where the owner was once employed and at the same time use village contacts to " put out" work, recruit other workers to the town, and distribute products. One tends to find a great deal of such combinative innovation in the "in­ fonnal sector" of Third World urban communities. Perhaps as a more oul­ of-the-way instance of turning old experiences into a new role, we could remember the notorious Manson gang of the late 1960s California. Charles Manson was another of those individuals with a career following no dis. cernible pattern, unless one is retrospectively read into the disastrous form of group leadership which he developed. According to Sanders ( 1 972), one of the chroniclers of the gang, Manson had been in and out of corrective institutions since his early tcens. A decade or so later, he had acquired II rather complete jailhouse education. By the late 19505, one could follow him jumping from one means of livelihood to another: busboy, hurtender, freezer salesman, service-station attendant, TV producer, phlll), "1)1 1111) talk," about the means u5ef.1 in controlling prostitutes, had indt.'ed been

II



of things A visitor to a Third. World city may again marvel at the kinds In a sector." l "infonna the in e enterpris that can be turned into an feet and hands the around hover Nigerian beer bar, free-lance nail cutters a with boy teenagc of customers. Outside a Colombian amusement park, a bahuru­ a bathroom scaJe offers to weigh the passers·by. In an Indian street,

a "man of many disguises," uses the very heterogeneity of the city as finally and another, after type urban one dramatic resource, impersonating Ber­ c1lliming his reward from an amused and astonished audience (cf.

plya,

reman 1972:577). If, on the other hand, a shantytown dweller from Africa or Asia should come to London or New York, another set of specializations which he had never imagined would undoubtedly seem equally remark­ Ilble-pct fashions, interior decoration consullancies. nalu­ EXllctly when a role is new or just a variation of an old one may rully be rather ambiguous, although we may not need to go into such ques­

Ikllls of coneeptullI practice here. What seems more significant is that ur­ in bClnltes can go on feeding new items into the role inventory where, s. repertoire own their j)rlnclple. others can then also draw upon them for And e. Once the prototype has been made. mass production may commenc an in, instituted is role new one As tualing. klf·peqJe be could S S Ihe Ill'OCC 10111)111 uruclure !lilly grow nrolmd It. As nn original combination is suc-

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cessfnl and draws more people into it, someone sees a different slice to cut

tried to deal systematically with cultural complexity as an analytical prob­

out of it and breaks away with yet another specialization. Some cities, of course, may have a greater potential for such ongoing development than others. "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." the Greek p1et Archilochus had it; there are urban isms which arc

281

lem. Some of those who seem to contribute significantly to such an analy­ sis, furthermore, do not define their work in these terms, and write with little or no reference to one another. We are concerned here with meaning; something that can be perplex­

more like foxes and other which arc more like hedgehogs. 9 The former

ingly subtle, not quite tangible, almost imperceptibly shifting, perhaps

seize on variety, play around with it, and thus crcate morc of it. The latter

never easy to handle in an analytical argument. To try to grasp the prob­

invest heavily in one single line and push on with that. Jane Jacobs' book

lems involved, we may begin with the old anthropological conception of

( 1969) is an argument in favor of fox-like urbanism,

human beings as both thinkers, occupied with moral and intellectual af­

The Economy of Cities

with small enterprises which keep combining and segmenting, 1 0 The con­

fairs, and doers, solving practical problems. In the latter aspect, they arc

trast between Birmingham and Manchester is one of her illustrative

fundamentally acting on meanings to deal adaptively with their environ­

cases-the former with small, changing establishments. the latter with

large ones which find it difficult to adapt to new circumstances and which

ment. In the former aspect, they try to understand and evaluate, and here they are concerned with the opinions of their fellows. More often than not,

therefore decline. The company town in this sense becomes the ultimate

anyway, they prefer approval to censure, and they are somewhat anxious

urban hedgehog, planned from the beginning with a role structure devoted

that their ideas should not be entirely quixotic. So they draw on social in­

to one purpose and thereafter unwilling to be distracted by others. Perhaps

tercourse to establish meaning. The two aspects of human life continu­

the orthogenetic city of Redfield and Singer was also more like a hedgehog,

ously interrelate, of course. But they interrelate in more problematic ways

the heterogenetic city a fox.

In some social contexts tban in others. A last visit, at this point, to the ideal-type folk society. Meaning tends to

Th, S O C I A L O R G A N I Z A T I O N of M E A N I N G Hitherto. as we forecast in the introduction, we have been mostly con­

be unusually transparent there. The array of situations with which people have to deal is small, and the same people in time become involved in most of them. In other words, the role inventory is quite limited. At the very

cerned with the ordering of social relations in urban life. The combination

least, it may be differentiated only by age and sex, and roles assigned to

and recombination of roles and the arrangement and rearrangement of

males or females on the basis of age will then be assumed by everyone of

thropology is also centrally concerned with culture. In the end, we ought

snme situations, they could even independently come to similar under­

to give some thought to what kind of cultural analysis urban anthropology

stnndings. But, in addition, they see and hear each ether dealing with

networks arc first of all themes in a relational rendition of the city. But an­

needs. I I It is now quite a widespread fashion, outside anthropological and

the appropriate sex as the life cycle moves on. As people face much the

them. This is of practical use to people as doers, since they can thus pick

sociological circles as well, to describe life in a complex society as made up

up ready-made solutions 10 problems. At the same time, they gel proof that

of a variety of cultures. They are generational. such as youth culture; eth­

others regard these solutions as realistic and morally acceptable, since

nic, like black culture; occupational, as the culture of dance musicians; in­

these others arc indeed themselves drawing on them.

stitutional, exemplified by the culture of bureaucracy or even "the cuhurc

Meanwhile, hack in the city as we have seen it, things can get much

of the White House" during a particular administration; class cultures,

more complicated, In the highly differentiated and yet coherent social sys­

like the culture of poverty; deviant cultures, like that of transvestites or

tem, It would seem, meanings drawn from the individual's own situational

tramps; or countercultures, as in the case of the hippies. And surrolilldil1�

CllIllCrlencc and meanings taken over from others in communication stand a

such islands of the culturally different are entities with designations like mass culture, popular culture, or mainstream culture. Much ethnography has come out of this concern with diversity. Buther fewer writers hllve

�I'clltcr chance of drifting apart.

Fllced with the problem of how the individual extracts meaning from the

rOlll111cII workl surrounding him, we mny try to arrive at an answer by

282

VES

counlerpoint. O n the one hand. there i s the favorite theme of tl>e sociology

of xnowledge-a person's conception of reality depends on his place in soci­ cty. 1 l Familiar �'ersions emphaSize particular sorts of piacemcni. such as class position or occupation. But these 3fC usually overall judgments which can be qualified in various ways. Here we take it that the individual draws experience from all the situations he is involved in; there is an intake, big or small. into his consciousness through each of his roles. To push this "sociology of knowledge" theme to its logical limits, however, one may have to see him as having the experiences characteristic of his situational in­ volvement, and pondering their interpretation, in intelle-they have been left in print much as offered by Ihe IlIrOl'll1lllll, without much serious attempt at anal-

t llClY were

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ysis. Systematizing the study o f careers, one would tend to work with the life histories more actively, and evoh'e crileria for comprehensiveness in collection 10 which little thought has been gh'en so far. One would also worry over biases and gaps which retrospective accounts of lives almost inevitably contain, and see if they can be dealt with (for instance. by find. ing collateral information from another source). The other methodological dimension on which some brief comments ought to be made relates to the size and complexity of the city. The uncer­ tain or blurred boundaries of many units of study is not only a character­ istic conceplual problem of urban anthropology but can also be a source of practical difficulties in the field worker's daily life. Network chains run on without a visible end, new faces keep showing up while others drift out of the picture unpredictably. One way of handling this problem, as we have seen, has been to avoid it as far as JXIssible. By concentrating on the en­ capsulated groups of the city, urban anthroJXIlogists have tried to shut out such noise from the systems of information they are building. This has also meant that the anthroJXIlogists themselves, as participant observers. have tended toward encapsulation as a mexle of field existence. (Possibly having another. non-field existence alongside, in a kind of double life.) In the end. however. the problem must be confronted if we are ever to have a more complete picture of urban life. Once we begin to take more in­ terest in the varied ways of being an urbanite. or in the study of urban wholes, we may also involve ourselves as field workers with the networks of the city in other ways. At times we may become network Integrators; probably there are other times when we prefer to lea\"C our various alters' networks as they are, largely unconnected with each other. so that field work entails a segregativity in which we parcel ourselves out among several distinct field contexts. The only mode of urban existence that would seem to fit ill with the goals of the field researcher is that of solitude. But even as he takes on the task of dealing with less comfortably man­ ageable units, an anthroJXIlogist cannot be everywhere in the city at the same time, and cannot know each of its inhabitants. He may still want to find out about what goes on out of reach of his individual field of direct and intensive observation. One part of the solution to this kind of problem may lie in a qualitalive­ quantitative mix; perhaps the most obvious form of triangulation. Forevcr II topic of debate in urban anthropology, it has its type advantagcs and hs type uncertainties. While subtle forms of thinking and nctlng may them

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selves hardly be accessible to extensive modes of data formation, one may hope to get some sense of their distribution obliquely through survey ques­ tions about related maUers. Similarly we may wish to get some under­ standing of the aggregate effects of certain modes of action which we have been able to observe at close quarters. And we may indeed feel, after ac­ quiring some measure of cultural competence, that it is possible to formu­ late intelligent questions on certain issues and get valid responses to them even from uller strangers. But we are aware at the same time of the dif­ ficulties that may arise. There may be gaps in the reasoning which tries to connect data of different types, the field worker who tries to be both a reasonably unobtrusive participant observer and a survey data collector may have troubles with his presentation of self, or It may simply be hard to find the time to gather data both wide and deep. Since these difficulties vary with field situations and definitions of prob­ lems, generalizations are often not very illuminating_ Leaving the topic aside with these few comments, we may approach the issue of extensive coverage from another angle, that of the social organilation of research. The qualitative-quantitat�ve mix by definition entails an uneven coverage. By simply involving more people in the research activities, more intensive co\-erage of some sort can be given to a greater portion of urban life. But how to do so is perhaps a question to which urban anthropologists could profitably give more systematiC attention_ On the one hand there are the urban anthropologist's more intensive relationships with specific inhabitants of the field, on the other hand there Is the collaboration between profeSSional researchers. With regard to the former, to begin with, are there any special consKierations involved in working with informants in urban studies? Possibly, in a more homogeneous community these individuals tend to be chosen more on the basis of personality characteristics: they should be ob­ servant, somewhat inclined toward introspection and at the same time rea­ sonably verbal, and they should have a good rapport with the field worker. In II complex structure such as that of the city, one may also become morc acutely concerned with the need to choose them strategically to pro­ vkle complementary perspectives toward social life. along its various axes of differentiation. Perhaps in order to extend coverage, urban anthroJXIlogists furthermore tend to use inmrmants more in lieu of observation, rather than parallel to olm(vatkm, So far, however, there has been little discus11011 In urban IlnthtlJllOIoKY of Ihe wAyS such inrormant panels are recruited

;14

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(see Hannerz 1976:81 fr.). One might wish as well for more analysis of the

There i s one more variety of research organization for urban studies to

further development of informant-anthropologist relationships, in their

make note of, by way of conclusion: interdisciplinary research. Oc­

personal

casionally. the form may be suitable simply for the same purpose as the

35

well as professional aspects. For one thing, to what extent do

the perspccth'cs of regular informants become anlhropologized, as they es·

other organizational types just mentioned, to extend coverage of a large and

tablish a collective system of meanings with the field worker?

complex social structure. At other times, the aim may be to combine meth­

From regular informants it may be only a short step to locally recruited

odologies and active conceptual integration as well. There are, naturally,

research assistants. At first sight the difference could seem to be that the

advantages to such cooperation. If we are to follow the arguments of

latter are paid and give more of their time than the former; as far as the

Gluckman and his colleagues concerning the limits of nal'vete. neither an­

character of research activities is concerned, it may be more important that

thropologists nor their peers in other disciplines should become too in­

the research assislants go oul of their way to find oul things they might not

volved in issues with which others can deal more competently. And active

otherwise ha\'c known so much about, in seuings where they might not

interdisciplinary collaboration would seem to be the highest form of a sci­

normally find themselves. One may wonder about the fit between the

entific division of labor.

research assistant and these situations, in terms of his entire role reper­

Even so, one may want to qualify one's enthusiasm. Quite frequently, It

toire and his role-discriminatory attributes. What are the effects, further­

appears as if the pioneering interdisciplinary work Is done by some brave

more. of the interposition of assistants between the anthropologist and

individual who has ignored the demarcations of nonnal science and put

parts of the field which ultimately he regards as his? The urban anthropo­

logical research establishment may lurn out 10 have ilS own brokers and

things together In new ways through the internal conversations in his own

mind. In anthropology, there may have been rather more of such openness

Aak catchers. The socialization of the research assistant as a paraprofes­

in recent years than there used to be. It might appear that Gluckman

sional coukl also rate more attention in the discussion of field methodology.

wrote within the context of a more consolidated and sharply bounded dis­

The Copperbelt studies of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute offer some

cipline than that which we have now. The actual working together be­

examples, but little discussion, of the use of local research assistants. At

tween specialists across discipline boundaries, on the other hand, is not

the same time, its duster of anthropologists, as the Chicagoans earlier,

easy. Interdisciplinary team work sometimes seems to be celebrated as a

give us some idea of what can be accomplished in the way of large-scale

panacea for all problems of intellectual complexity; often prescribed. more

urban ethnography when there is some coordination of the efforts of a

seldom actually used in a successful cure.

number of professional researchers. No doubt we will continue to have the anthropologist as lone wolf in the city as well, with no more than an assis­

Be that as it may. The problems of interdiSciplinary linkages are not re­ ally ours here. conceptually or methodologically. Unless we have an under­

tant or two to aid him in his project. Some research problems can be so cir­

standing of urbanism which is rerognizably anthropological, however, our

cumscribed as to be rather easily manageable for a single investigator, and

input into such cooperation within this Ileld may be slight. We have tried

it is quite conceivable that one kind of anthropologist may even want to un­

In the past pages to take some steps toward such an understanding. It

dertake some form of whole-city anthropology singlehandedly, perhaps as

11

seems that what we have come up with also has some implications for the

long-tenn labor of love. Simply for organizational and financial reasons, for

way the urban anthropologist might practically handle his Ileld, in some

that matter, no alternative way of doing research is available for many of

ways different from traditional field work. A great deal more could be said

the people wanting to do urban anthropology. But it is unfortunate that,

nbout this, but again the continuities are probably more significant. The

except for those of Chicago and the Copperbelt, there are as yet hardly any

onthropologist in the city may become a time-conscious team member

example� of larger-scale professional team ethnography in urban communi

(sometimes), but he is still a participant and an observer. taking an in­

ties. although it has been suggested as an appropriate form for urban an

"rumcntal IIIKI eclectic view of complementary ways of finding facts. In

thropologkal work (sec Price 1973). Not least would this secm 10 be l ilt, more promising basis for taking on the study of entire diles, sketched

earlier.

a

lollj.( the IInc_

method us In concepts, there Clln well be something distinctly anthropo­

IllKlclll nhollt mlulU IIl1lhropoloAY'



Appendix: Analytical Concepts Exploring the City

One reader of the manuscript of this book has suggested that others might

find it useful to have somewhere a summary statement of the basic analyti­ cal apparatus used in it, preferably in a diagrammatic form, since concepts are introduced in a sort of steady Bow through many chapters. What follows, then, is an attempt to visualize, in a reasonably uncomplicated way, the understanding of how urban society is constructed, in terms of roles and relations, which has been stated in a more roundabout way in the main body of the book . Social life consists, perhaps most concretely, of situations. People in­ volve themselves in these through relatively standardized mooes of pur­

posive behavior (and also with parts of their consciousness and material

resources) which we call roles. The total array of such mooes of behavior known within some major social unit, such as an urban community, may be described as its rok

inventory.

The particular series of modes of behavior

in which one individual is involved is a rok

repertoire.

It seems practical to

see both these kinds of role collections as divided into domains (household and

kinship; provisioning; recreation; neighboring; traffic) containing

greater or smaller numbers of roles. (These concepts are discussed on pp.

100- 5.) People are recruited into situations, and into particular roles in these, in no smtiH part on the basis of what we call

role-discriminatory attributes,

cul­

IUrlllly defined characteristics of individuals which exist apart from partic­

lillir situRtion•. Such major attributes are sex, age, and (in social units which /lrC hctcrf'Ml'lIl'()wi In Ihls regard) elhnidty or race. (The notion of

318

APPENDIX:

A N A L Y T I C A L CON C E P T S

Role­

Role Inventory

discrlmimuory

Role repertoire

(by domiins)

attributes

APPEN D I X :

ANALYTICAL

CONCEPTS

ll9

who is a brown adult woman, a s opposed to say an aged blue man (the color terms stand here for any kind of ethnic designation), may be regarded In the community as fining Into certain roles within the role im'entory but

HoUKhoid ind kinship

not others. (It is, of course, often a combination of role-discriminatory at­ tributes, rather than a single one of them, that inAuences such access. )

So.

From among the roles still accessible, a role repertoire is put together, as

,.

Male

indicated by the arrows between the inventory and repertoire columns. But further problems of role access may enter

Femlilev'

in here.

The inclusion of specific

roles in the repertoire may have a detennining influence on what other Provisioning

roles the individual may or may not take on, simultaneously or at a later point

in

time. In this figure it is suggested that the household/kinship role

Ht has been important in the recruitment of this individual to provisioning

-



role P,. Being in this role, in turn, has allowed her to enter household/kin­ ship role H17, recreational roles R. and

Child Youth Adult

.j

Aled

Voui·

and the remainder of her role repertoire, insofar as they are known to

role

Recrnlion

access

others, at least have not dl$qualified her from them. One role in her reper­ toire, Pn-tl, is somewhat mysteriously included there but not in the role in­

within Inven-

ventory. This could possibly serve as one way of denoting some basically

-I

new mooe of behavior, in this case in the provisioning domain-an ex­ ample of "role making" as discussed on pp. 276-80. But of course, as soon

a5 it makes its first appearance in an individual role repertoire, one might

Ethnicity,

see it as also making its way into the wider inventory.

fice BliCk While Brown R,d Blue

It should perhaps be added that the number of roles enumerated in the

Neighboring

.j

and neighbor role Nt, from

roles, e.g., He, n. and Tt, it seems that her role-discriminatory attributes

able

""

R"

which she woukl otherwise have been restricted. With regard to her other

f+1El El 5]

____

5:1-

Trame

-I F1sure S. The Construction of � Role Repertoire in Urbiiln Soci ety

role-discriminatory attributes is discussed on pp. 1 5 1-56.) We may say

thai they are among Ihe faclors determining role acceu (sec p. 1 5 1). In figure 5 we can thus sec, in a highly simplified manner, how n role repertoire is assembled in these terms. in an clilllicllily hClcrO!(cl1C.'ous com muni!)' with a more or less complete dOOl(lill diffcrcnt lalK>n. I\n imli"lduu l

role repertoire in this diagram is severely limited for the sake of conve­ nicnce, although possibly the approximate proportions of the repertoire in­ dicated as falling into the different domains may not be quite so unrealis­ tic; sce on this point the discussion on pp. 107-8. In figure 6, we have taken the additional step of showing how a part of the personal network is constituted for the person (ego) with the role rep­ ertoire shown in figure 5. Her relationships to 1 3 alters are shown; to 3 of Ihese ( I I . 12, 13) she is connected only minimally through traffic rela­ tkmships. and since network analyses usually do not include such links they are morkcd herc with broken lines. But note that of these no. 1 1 is I lnkl.:d through It more tungible relationship to no. 10, so that ego' s traffic relutlonshl!) 10 her IIllly be of further significancc-see thc discussion of

.\lch (."Onnc:ctlwu ull 1 m 214-35. '1.1 fllr ('1(11" It'iun'''I'IIII'. If) I 10, this sketch of thcm may be related 10

320



APPENDIX:

H,

H,

P"

p..

H,

H,

N,

H'



i l-'H !, � I-'P, o

= •



R,

ecess

�l

,

N,

" I-'-

� � T,

. , " /\,..,'/(11" SorIolOKklll ikvil"'. 30:234-42.

364

REFERENCES

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Index

--

--

--

--

Kurt. )19

Aarhus, 73

!bek,

Abidjan, 122

Backsuge.

JU

FrOfll$l$SC'-badslage di�t'nc·

tion

Abortionists, search for. 193 Ac«ssibilily, 110, 113-14, 1 1 5 , 116, 1 1 7-18,

Bailey, F. G., 207 Baker, Paul J., 326

192, 244

Accounu, 238, 292

!bktam.n. 222-23

Action

!bmako, 247

stU,

170, 176

Banton, Michael, :B3

Adams, f\obIort McC. • 84, 328

J\ddam$, Jane, 20

!brnu, John,

Adelman, Will�m J., 327

Bars. 67, 198-99. 275, 278, 279, �

Adhocnq. 276 Ad"frtising,

192,

215

African urbanism, 1 19-23: JU "/50 Centnl African Lubanbm: Wut Afrleln urbanism

Ageas role-discriminatoryallribute. 152,

130, 163, 164-65, 175, 176,

177. 178, 185, 189, 200. 201

ISS,

!brtdl. Gilbert D., 247

!brth, Frtdri., 153. 222, 139 Bascom. William. 120. 331 Basham, RIchard, 325

Agrotowns, 80, 89-90, 1 1 9-20

Beal$, Ralph, 9 Becker. Howanl S., 54, 58, 256. H9

Allahabad, 87

Beckford. George L, 338

245, 317

Anderson, Nels, 31-35. 45, 48, 49, 54. 56, 57, 232. 272. 327

Andes, 82

Belgian Congo. 147, 298 !kll, Colin. 17, 247. 265, 273 Bemba. 125, 131, 135, 140, 162

Anonymiry, 70. n. 1 11-- 1 3, 150. 241;$tl!lllso

!kndb, Reinhard, 326. 328

Antwerp. 110

Bensman. J05eph. 340

Suangen

AparlDeid, 336

Benet, Francisco.

I,

74. 328

!krgtr. Bennell. 2.41, 337. 338, HI

Archilochu5, 280, 340

Berger, Brlgiue, 22S

Art:hitecu. 2%

Ikrger, Pl"ler, 225, 226. 229, 283, 287

Arnold, David 0., 341

Berlin. halah, 340

Art:hival dati, 3 1 1

Berghe, Pitrre vln den. 158

Arwoff. Joel, 337

Berman, Marshall, 337

Assyrians, 48

Berreman, Gerald D., 233. 248, 279, 287

Aronson, Dan R., 335

Bernstl"in. BIIII, 295. 333

J.

1... 329

Aushi, 135

Berry. Brian

Authenticity, 225--27

BiesDeuvcl. S., 335

AWlrtneu ronluU, 230-31

Birtnbaum, Amold, 337

Aund.: w!ldler.rl, 14"

Binnlnghlm, 280

368

INDEX

Biu, I H ..!5 Bittner, Ep. 264, 339 BI_deAmerialls, 14,21,48, 52, 187-88. 199, 280, 338, 339

Blackmail, 213, 339 Btan!on. Richard E., 329 Blumer, Herbert, 326, 337 Boas. Frlln.. 31 Bogart, Roberl W., 337. 338 Bogue. Donald J.. 126 Bainev.in, Jeremy, 181. 19�93, 335, B6 BoIlanskl, we, B7 Bombay, 88 Boston. I!H-95 Bott. E1il.abeth, 16S-68, 170. 176, 177, 178, 179, 182, 229, 247, 262. 336

Doyman IsJands. 14 Centra.! African urbanism, 16, 1 1 9-62, 177,

182-85, 187, 244, 291. 299. 303, 332 Centrality in networh, ISO Central place IMory. 91-97, 100. 115. 121, 148, 243. 308, 329, 330

Ceremonial �ntcrs, 81,...85, 87, 89, 120, 3Os-6, 331 Ceylon. 9 Chain lellus. 163. 1 7 1 . 178, 194 Ch.ain migration, 267-68 Chan Kom. 336 Chemichewski. Vladimir. 7-8 Chew•. 135 Chicago. 16. 18. 19-58.63, 6&-69, 74,76, 98, 243. 244, 248, 250. 2M. 2n. 276, 305

Boulding, Kenneth. 117 Braudd. Fernand, 89-90, 95, 97 BruiJ, 271, 275, 307 Brcmnc$, 164-65, 175, 189. 200 Broken Hill, KC Kabwc

China. 82. 84, 90. 329

Broken, 171, 190-91, 199, 314. 339

Chinese Americans, 52

Brown, Rich.rd, no, 334 Browning. Harlcoy L . 329 Bruges, 87, 91

Chrinallf'r, W.llf'r, 91-95. 329. 332

Bryce·upone, Roy S. • 338 Bulmer. Manin. 289

Bureaucracy, 78. 84. 87. 88. 89, 173, 190-91, 198, 224, 225. 233. 252. 276, 277. 280

Bu�n, E.l'Int. 27-29, 57, 93, 305. 326, 327 Burke, Peter, 328 Burnet, Jean, 326 Bulterwonh, Douglas. 262

Chicago Council of Social Agf'nc'�s. 57 Chicago sociologists. 16. 19-58, 59. 65. 72. 76, 119, 130. 156, 201,...3, 241,...43, 24;, 291 , 311, 314. 32;...2 . 6, 330

Chud�ff. Howan:! P., 3 1 1 City as context. 304

City formingeconomy, 97, 105. 297. 299-300. :104, 307

City serving economy, 97. lOS, 300 Clar.f', John. 289

Class, 18,45, 77-79, 99, 140, 156-57, 165. 186, 1 87, 196-97, 229. 2'>6,265, 280. 286.

289, 290, 295. 3B-H. 340 Cbbing, 45, 69. 115, 126, no, 158. 215. 216. 237

Cakulll, 267 Cambridge (Musachu5ells). 195 Canberra. 88 DonlOn. 87 Capitalism. 74-75. 79

Carf'f'U. 54. 246. 270-76. 277. 278. 292. 295. 303. 305. 339

Carty. Jamcs T . . 326 Carn�iro. Robert L.. 328 Doro Baroja. JuliO. 63 Carlcr. Harold. 329 DoJtc, 24. 45. 7>-76. 106. 174. 2B. 339 Dost�lIs. Manuf'l. 75 c..t�rkal rclationshlp$. 141,...43. 149-50. 156. 245

CaYan. Sherr;. H7

369

I N DE X

Cobb, Rkh.an:!, !B-14 Cochail waitrf'sses, 247 Coifeo!' houses. 287 Cohen. Abn�r. 154 Coh�n, Albert K.. 285. 286, 287, 288. 290.

295 Co.clown. 74, 99. 100, 123, 224. 243. 297. J()7

Collectiyc behavior, 22. 24. 63. 286. 296 Collins. Randall. 214. 337. 338 Colomhi.a. 279 Colonial anlhrol)(llogy. 157-61 Colonial urbanism. 88. 119. 121-22, 291. 331. m CoI!iOn. Eliuhclh. no. 3}(1 Goonaroff. John L . H I . ))3

Commem:town, 87, 98, 100. 224. 243. 297. l-'-58, 260, 261. 267, 288, 2119, 292, 312 Eng�ls. Frederick, 63, 64, 74, 340 Enlre�neurship, 9, 84, 87, 88, 90, 94, 278 Epstein, A. L , BO, 132, 13S-40, 141, 142, 144-47, 154, 156, 158, 177, 187, 298, 299, 300, .HZ, lB. 314 Equilibdum concepl, 124, 126, 129, 159, 332 Ethnicily, ), 3, 14,37, 48, 74, 78. 127, 128, 114-35, 140-41, 143, 146. 148, 149, 152-56, 245,256, 267,280, 317. 327, 334 Ethnogl1lphy, 8, 28, 31. 54.55,57, 1S6, 160, 213, 242. 246, 248, 280, 294, 297, 303, �S. 108-I5

Elhnomclhoddogy, 212, 295 Ethology, 2(W Ethos, W6-8 Elzlonl, Amllal, 44, 326 Eunuchs, 257 Evans·Prltchard, E. E., 144 �pIoratory .,sturn, 285 EXI�ndcd boundary towns, 85, 120, 148 Ext�ndcd.cawstudi�s, Ill-]], 117, 187, 1 1 1 EXI�mal del�rmin�nts, 145-47, 246, 298 Face·to-face int�racion, t 2Oz...20. 294 Face'work, 210-11 Fads. liS, 296 Fanotl, Frantz. 158 Faris. Robert E. L, ]26 Farm work�rs, 290 Fash"ions, 1 1 5 , 296 FlU, Sylvia F., 328 F�nc�s, 247, ]H h5lin.,r, Uon, ]]9 F�udalism. 17-79 F�u�r, uwis, 56

Filipino Americans, Sz... S3 Rnl�, M. I., 85 Rrth, Raymond. In. 176, 241 Fischer. Claude S., 328, ]040 Fischer, John L , 283 Fisher, Sethard, 341 flak cltchers, 189-92, 213, 314, 339 flanagan. William G., 321, 311 fland�rs, 81 fluidity, 246. 269-16, 295-96, 305, 310 Folk sod�ty, 59-61, 63.66. 88, 101,222, 232, 281, 321 Folk-uriNncontinuum, 64, 66, 73, 121. 201, 212, 240, 121. 328 Forge, Anthony, 241 Fort�$. M�er. I I Fosbrooke, Henry, 330 FOSler, George M., 325, 328 Fox, Rkhard G. . 296-91, 325 Fox, Robin, I Fox Indians, 223 Frank�nberg. RoIUlId, 201, 330 FranHurt, 41 Fried/JUIn, Jobn, 81 Friendship, 75, I I I , 126. 121, 143, 149, 1 5 1 , 164, 161, 229-30, 2040.252. 261,272, 214, 279, 339 FrontJt,r, 19, 32, 38. 73, 136 Frontstage-backstage dlstlnctlon, 2()6...7, 226, 232, 237, 240, 261, 291, 306, 301 Fulani, 223 Functional clauificilion or cltin, 97, 100, 109, 110, 121-22. 329 Fuslel de Coulangi!s, N. D., 85 Gamson, William A., B1

Gangs, 35-40, �5, 48, 5�. 58. 242, 2�7, 261.

216, 277, 278, 287, 296, 327 Gms, Herbert J., 5, 72. 268. 328

Gao, m

Gubet!, G. Kingsley, 333 Garfinkel, Harold, 295 Gatekeepers, 191 Gearing, Frederick, 223 Geertz, Clifford, 87. 1l3, 284 Gellner, Ernest. 327 Generativ.: cille•. 329 George Town, 14. 16 Gerholm, Tomu, HI

371

INDEX

Gerlach, Luthu P., 199-200, 319 German Americans, 37, 48 Ghetto. 3, I�, 10-44, 187-88, 213, 242, 256, 290, 306. 319 GI95er, Barney, 209, 230 GiasW'w, 247 Gluckman, Mail, 128-30, 1l2, 140-42, 143, 144-45, 155, 156. 158, 1 59,161, 162, 184, 186-88, 231-32, 239, 315, lB, 335, 336 Goffman, Erving, 17. 58, 105, 201--41, 246, 248, 250, 251, 266. 275, 277, 291, 330, 137-39 GoIdkind, Victor, 316 Goldman, Emma, 327 Gonos, George. 137 Goode, Judith G., 325 Goodenough, Ward II., 283 Goody, Jack, 328 Gopher Prairif, 308 Gossip, 186-89, 2n. 238 Gould, Harold A. . 247 GouIdnu, Alvin W., 137, 338 Gramsc;, Antonio, 341 Granovener, Mark S., 339 Gl"lIph theory, 181 G�, 85 Greek Americans, 48, 51. 52 Gregersen, 50, 337 Grillo, Ralph, 247 Grunebaum, G. E. von, 7S Guatemala City, 266, 269 Gugler, josef, 331 Guilds, 78, 86, 120 Guick, l John, 313, 3�I Gutkind, P. C. W., 2, 325, 336 GUlnava, Eugen", 328 Hall, J. A., 337 Handelman, Don, 334 Hannen., Ulf, 14, 187-88. 314. 325, 114. 338. 339, 340, 341 lianseslic League, 87 Hansen, Edvard C., 198. 275 Harries-Jonn. Pet�r, 156-51, 332, 333 Harris, Chauncy D., 97. 329 1·larrls, Marvin, 69-70, 240, 328 lIaC\l'y, David. 128 IIIUll. 154 IbU!ier, I'hlllil M. . 128

HaVlna, 262 Hawley, AITlO5, 326 Haymarhl Affair, 19, 72, 327 Henderson, Jan, 331 Hepworth. Mike, 339 HerskoylU, M�lville J., 287 Heterosen�lty, 67-70, 73, 74, 93, 98, 1 1 5 Hfterogenctlc cilleS, 87-89, 280 Hili, p, 35 Hine, Virgin" H., 199-200, 339 Hippies, 247, 280 Hoboes, 31-35, 45, 48, 54, 232, 242, 250 Holism, 3, 9. 297 HoII�man, J. F 335 Honor. 49, 212, 225. 333 Hooker, James R., 157-58, 159, 160 Horton. Robin, 327 Horwalh, Ronald J., 331 Hosclitz, Berl F., 329 Household and kinship roIn and ll'latlon· ships, 61. 70-71, 78, 82, 102, 103, 104, 1 10, I I I, 124, 126, 152, 153, 164, 165-68, 244, 247, 250, 251, 252, 253, 266, 270, 272, 289, 291, 301-2, 317, 319, 321, 329 Housewlve" 257-58, 263 How. Jame, E., 34 Huancayo, 278 Hubert, Jane, 247 Hughes. Ev�rett C., 58, 287, 326, 337, 339 Hull House, 20 Humphreys, Laud. 258 Hunter, Floyd, 196 .•

lbadan, 1 1 9 Ibn Khaldun, 87 impC'nonaIOrl, 279 Implosion of cuhull', 291, 309 Impression management, 205-9, 232, 213, 235, 240, 251 Indian urbanism, 75-76. 106, 121-22, 170-71. 193, 231. 247, 248, 279, J06, 339 Individuality. 115. 222, 230, 240 Industrial Workers of the World, 35 Industrialism. 74, 97, 104, 121. 124, 125, 162,224,252.217,278,297,330,332,336 Indus valley. 82, 328 Informal organiutlon, 173, 216-17, 277 Informal IIC("tQl", 247. 278, 279 'nformants, 181-82, 313-14

312

Integrallvitr. 255, 259, 260. Z61. 312 Interl("lional Huributts of nei....orks. J 77 Interdisciplinary �$I'nch. 31S Intenntd1arits. 192--93, 255. 257, 268, 336; we aoo BmIJogy. 333 I..dsure, �e Recreatiooal roles lely'cld, }oscph. 267 lemann. Nicholas. 339 LeopoIdvillc. Sl!e Kinshl5a le�r, Daniel, 223 lewis, Oscar, 17, 70--71 , 72, 112, 240, 2S6, .•

261. 290, 328

Kabwe(Broken Hill), 123. 124-28. 129, Ill, 136. 140. 161, 182, 244. 332

Ka£anchan, 1S-16, 331 Kalofla danCf!. 131-35, 137. 142, 158, JOS, 132, 333

Kampala. 247 Kapferer, 8ruce, 130. 182-85, 247, 132,334, '3
HANNERZ, ULF. (1980) Exploring the City

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